


Who Would Fuck Up First

by MatchaBlossom (0p3n_F0r_Di5cu55i0n)



Category: SK8 the Infinity (Anime)
Genre: Anal Sex, Angst, Blow Jobs, Bottom Nanjo Kojiro | Joe, Bottom Sakurayashiki Kaoru | Cherry Blossom, Denial of Feelings, Endgame MatchaBlossom, Fluff, Internalized Homophobia, Lust, M/M, Not Beta Read, Not Canon Compliant, Oral Sex, Romance, Sex, Slow Build, Slow Burn, Smut, Top Nanjo Kojiro | Joe, Top Sakurayashiki Kaoru | Cherry Blossom
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-18
Updated: 2021-03-12
Packaged: 2021-03-13 12:49:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 23,503
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29526648
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/0p3n_F0r_Di5cu55i0n/pseuds/MatchaBlossom
Summary: “There is no one here to impress Kaoru, you don’t have to try and yank my hair out,” Joe grumbled and rubbed the back of his head after one particularly rough night. They were both still recovering and made a point of not touching each other after.“Piss off, and do not call me that,” Cherry hissed. He did not need this feeling any more real then it was. Their little hookups that only occurred after S. Never after Kaoru stopped by at the restaurant or even prior to S. It needed to happen after. They had never even discussed limits or what the hell any of this was. A quick fuck and then whoever was the guest in the others home was gone. This worked for them and neither of them seemed to want to talk about it.It was only a matter of time before one of them fucked up and decided that feelings should be discussed. Until then… they had all the time in the world until one of them fucked up. It was just a matter of who would fuck up first.
Relationships: Minor Kyan Reki/Hasegawa Langa, Nanjo Kojiro | Joe/Sakurayashiki Kaoru | Cherry Blossom, Past Sakurayashiki Kaoru | Cherry Blossom/Shindo Ainosuke | Adam - Relationship
Comments: 15
Kudos: 240





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Comments and Kudo's appreciated! 
> 
> Also events from the show will be mentioned eventually but it isn't conon compliant, so I am focused more on the relationship between Joe and Cherry then staying true to the events in the show.

_After the latest beef, every single time, if they both showed up then they both ended up in bed together. Muscular hands combing through long pink hair as the room filled with gasps and pants. Or on other days it was thin pale hands tightly gripping green locks and forcing an arched back with swears and grunts. Neither of them were more gentle then the other, Cherry just tried to make up for his deceiving looks by being unnecessarily rough._

_“There is no one here to impress Kaoru, you don’t have to try and yank my hair out,” Joe grumbled and rubbed the back of his head after one particularly rough night. They were both still recovering and made a point of not touching each other after._

_“Piss off, and do not call me that,” Cherry hissed. He did not need this feeling any more real then it was. Their little hookups that only occurred after S. Never after Kaoru stopped by at the restaurant or even prior to S. It needed to happen after. They had never even discussed limits or what the hell any of this was. A quick fuck and then whoever was the guest in the others home was gone. This worked for them and neither of them seemed to want to talk about it._

It was only a matter of time before one of them fucked up and decided that feelings should be discussed. Until then… they had all the time in the world until one of them fucked up. It was just a matter of who would fuck up first. 

***

Joe had narrowly managed to beat Reki. The kid was getting better every day and constantly challenged Joe to beefs. Beefs that he lost constantly even if they weren’t betting anything it still dropped Reki’s score on the forums. 

“Give it a rest kid, make some reasonable progress and then I’ll kick your ass again,” Joe said with a grin. Keeping up his persona even if outside of Crazy Rock he was constantly giving Reki pointers and helping him at the skatepark. 

“Fine, give me two weeks and then I’ll challenge you again,” Reki smirked. He was always so thrilled to race even if he didn’t win nearly as much as Langa. Joe remembered how fast Cherry had caught on to this whole skating thing and although he had initially been excited it grew exhausting to see him get so good and then replace his wooden board with that lousy machine. Joe was honestly just happy that Reki and Langa didn’t seem to be following down the same path. 

Joe wasn’t stubborn enough to hide the fact that he missed having a friendship or any sort of relationship with Cherry outside of their rivalry at S. The line between pretend and reality had faded into nothing until Joe couldn’t remember what had sparked their conflict. Maybe they had just grown apart. That was probably it. 

At least he had thought that until they had both skated away after Langa and Adam’s close call with the cops. 

***

“Shit the cops have never shown up. Hopefully everyone got out okay,” Joe muttered. He and Cherry had ended up going in the same direction. Both a little shocked about the cops showing up. It was nerve racking, maybe less so for the younger skaters but for adults that shit was honestly very concerning. Joe had briefly considered never going back to S and he was sure that Cherry was thinking the same thing. 

“I wonder who called the cops, I was considering it but I never did,” Cherry muttered. 

“Why would you call the cops? You set Langa up for that race.” 

“Because I was realizing that they were both going to end up in the hospital if they made it to the abandoned factory,” Cherry pointed out. Joe supposed Cherry was right on that. Joe had also just realized that they weren't bickering. Was that something that they just did when others were around? They hadn’t been alone together in years to find out if they were just doing it for a show or not. 

“You gorilla get away from me!” Cherry tried to move away from Joe, who hadn’t noticed that he was subconsciously veering towards Cherry until it was too late. They clashed into each other and both ended up tumbling towards the pavement. Thankfully Joe caught Cherry’s head before it could hit the pavement and he was able to cushion the blow. Joe opened his eyes, which had formerly been shut tightly, only to come face to face with Cherry who was looking up at him. 

“Do you plan on getting off of me?” Cherry asked. He was cold to the point where Joe was hesitant to even get off of him, but obviously lying in the street wasn’t an option. 

“Sorry,” Joe muttered and pushed himself off of Cherry and glanced around before spotting their boards, nestled together in a patch of grass. 

“What got you distracted?” Cherry asked as he pushed himself up. 

“I wasn’t distracted four eyes,” Joe grumbled. 

“I’m wearing my contacts dipship, and yes you were, but whatever.” Cherry pushed himself up as Joe went to get their boards and came back. 

What happened next was such a blur. One moment Joe was coming up with a comeback and offering Cherry his board back. Then they were bickering which turned into quite a loud argument until eventually someone yanked someone else close and their lips clashed together. There was hardly any build up. Neither of them had been feeling particularly in the mood, but it happened. They kissed. They kissed and they were both sober. They kissed and they were both sober and nothing had prompted them to do it. They kissed and they were both sober and nothing had prompted them to do it and it wasn’t one sided. There was no excuse for either party involved. 

Cherry had his hand on Joe’s bare chest and ran a thumb over his peck before they both seemed to realize and one of them pulled away. They looked at eachother, each panting lightly. A hint of fear in both of their eyes that they would both deny seeing or exhibiting. Now it was a challenge though, which one was more scared and would leave first. Which one would utter the first word and acknowledge what they did. Turns out neither of them did because they just ended up kissing again. Which turned into them sloppily making out like teenagers on a dark road until Cherry felt a shiver run through him. It was far too cold out for them to be doing this out here. So Cherry pulled away and dialed the number for a cab.

***

“Oh fuck- ah! Harder- please!” Cherry begged and gripped Joe’s hair tightly as Joe thrusted into him. Soft moans which had gradually grown louder were the first noise either of them had spoke to one another and even that didn’t really count. They had undressed in a hurry when they got to Cherry’s place and after quickly realizing how inexperienced they both were with men Cherry took one for the team and wordlessly let Joe be on top. Now he was begging, panting, moaning, damn near screaming as Joe fucked into him at a brutal pace. The prep probably wasn’t as good as it could have been but Cherry loved it. He loved every moment of it. Well he didn’t love how it hurt initially, but he didn’t want to spend time awkwardly telling Joe to slow down or even stop. He had pushed past it and it felt fine now, more than fine. That could just be due to Cherry’s inexperience in general. 

Joe grunted and gripped Cherry’s hips tightly as he pressed into the other before dragging his hips out only to press in again. He was so close and Cherry’s voice- something about it got him there a hell of a lot quicker than anything else had. He had came first with a loud groan and panted heavily before stroking the pink-haired man off. He was a bit more of a gentleman then to just leave Cherry hard. 

But once Cherry had came the two had recovered in silence, putting space between one another, before eventually Joe got up and left as Cherry quietly scrolled through his phone. Neither of the two were willing to look at one another, much less utter a word. Instead, heavy breathing had lingered in the silence between them and it echoed in their heads even after Joe left and they were no longer together. 

What the fuck had they just done?


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “What are you doing here, you muscle brained gorilla?” Cherry grit his teeth as he stood up and noticed Joe. On the exact same ship he was taking for his work trip. Fantastic. 
> 
> “Seriously? You're here you tech geek?” Joe rolled his eyes as he sighed softly. 
> 
> Cherry had noticed the others here as well and sighed softly, “What is everyone doing here?” Cherry asked and did his best to compose himself. 
> 
> “Vacation!” 
> 
> “Hot springs retreat!” 
> 
> “Tagged along.” 
> 
> “Babysitting,”
> 
> They each listed their reasons and Cherry tried not to be too disappointed. He just struggled with getting his last encounter with Joe out of his head. Neither of them had talked about it and based on the way those girls were practically draped over Joe it seemed like they weren’t going to mention it.

“What are you doing here, you muscle brained gorilla?” Cherry grit his teeth as he stood up and noticed Joe. On the exact same ship he was taking for his work trip. Fantastic. 

“Seriously? You're here you tech geek?” Joe rolled his eyes as he sighed softly. 

Cherry had noticed the others here as well and sighed softly, “What is everyone doing here?” Cherry asked and did his best to compose himself. 

“Vacation!” 

“Hot springs retreat!” 

“Tagged along.” 

“Babysitting,”

They each listed their reasons and Cherry tried not to be too disappointed. He just struggled with getting his last encounter with Joe out of his head. Neither of them had talked about it and based on the way those girls were practically draped over Joe it seemed like they weren’t going to mention it. 

***

“Beach!” Langa had whispered excitedly before turning off on a path to head over that way. 

Cherry had quickly found himself lounging on a chair under an umbrella as he sighed softly and relaxed. He understood the distaste Shadow probably had for having to be put on babysitting duty, but it was a nice enough time. Miya, Reki, and Langa all seemed like good kids, which is probably why Cherry was concerned about getting involved with them. He had a tendency to have soft spots for kids and wasn’t sure what would happen if Adam seriously hurt one of them. Just don’t get close to them, they are old enough to take care of themselves, besides- 

“Dad!” 

Cherry glanced over when he heard Miya’s voice and noticed him crouched over tugging on Joe’s trunks. He rolled his eyes and went back to relaxing. 

“Mom said she is going to kill you if you don’t get back over there.” 

“Huh?” 

There was a pause and Cherry nearly opened his eyes to see what in the world they were talking about but decided to ignore it for now. 

“That’s just Kaoru you idiot!” Joe huffed and Cherry opened his eyes only to watch Joe explain how it had just been a misunderstanding and all that to the ladies he had been talking to. What an idiot. 

***

“I didn’t order this much food,” Cherry whispered to himself as he looked at the six separate plates, he already had such a bad feeling about it. 

“A meal tastes better when you have lots of people around!” Joe came in with and winked at Cherry. Cherry wondered if that was on purpose. 

“Kojiro? Wait, the rest of you can’t come in here-” It was too late. The others filed into his room and soon it was packed. “Kojiro what are you thinking?” 

“Oh come on, I’ll help pay! Let us treat you guys to dinner!” Joe hummed and wrapped an arm around Cherry who used his fan to hide the way his cheeks warmed. It was the first time any physical contact had been made sense- well sense they had sex. Cherry did his best not to dwell on it. It wouldn’t happen again. He chuckled softly at all the thanks they received, he knew he would probably end up paying the entire bill so didn’t mind all the thanks and instead just began to eat. 

How was it that Joe was somehow the most mature one? Shadow was a lightweight and had gotten himself drunk, Reki was trying to steal alcohol, Langa had disappeared to who knows where, and Miya… well actually Miya was being fairly decent. 

“Underage drinking is prohibited,” Carla had stated after Cherry had smacked Reki’s hand with his fan sometime later. 

“Sorry Reki, but if your guardian is drunk I cannot allow you to drink under my watch,” Cherry stated rather firmly and looked to Reki from the corner of his peripheral vision only to hear him mutter some sort of apology or lame excuse. Cherry hadn’t even noticed when Joe had left, but this place was honestly far too crowded. 

“We should go to the hot springs later,” Cherry mainly muttered to himself, he wasn’t sure how much he cared if all of these guys came, but it would be nice to go. 

Meanwhile Joe had been chatting with some lady in the hall. Something felt off lately though. He was sure his flirting technique was as good as ever. Joe was, after all, a naturally charismatic guy. Something was just bothering him he supposed. Everytime he started chatting with a girl he started thinking of a certain pink haired man. A certain pink haired man who, after a quick look on the forums, hadn’t stated his sexuality but also hadn’t ever dated a girl. It was fine to not be open about that stuff Joe supposed, it wasn’t like it needed to be public knowledge, but it would be somewhat comforting to know if Cherry had prior experience. Unlike Joe who was struggling after that night and had spent a day foolishly convincing himself that it was a fluke. Maybe it was, that was easier to say then admitting that he could possibly be- 

“Oh, I think someone is here to talk with you. I’m gonna get going,” the lady he had been speaking to mentioned softly. 

Joe turned his attention to see Reki standing in the hall. 

“You have terrible timing,” Joe joked. Hiding the internal dialogue he was having with himself. No one needed to know, much less people from S. 

***

“I guess we beat them here,” Joe muttered with a grin. Fuck. Why in the world couldn’t one of the others already be here? They needed something to buffer the silence and not talk about what had happened. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. 

“What is this ‘we’? I am the one who won,” Cherry said with a grin. Maybe they were both acting like everything was fine between them and that nothing had happened. 

“Oh piss off four eyes,” Joe rolled his eyes and glanced around again with a soft sigh before shrugging.

“Whatever. Well let's get in then,” Cherry shrugged and went back into the building so he could undress and put his board away. 

“Uh yeah,” Joe muttered and followed Cherry as he kept his eyes off of the other. The others could show up at any time and Joe wouldn’t have any complaints. Like come on! Not even Langa? 

Eventually the two had made their way into the pool, it was lit from within the water and it was cool enough out for steam to cover the area. 

“They sure are taking their time,” Cherry whispered and sighed softly. 

“Perhaps they got scared by whatever was on that map and went back?” Joe joked and laughed softly. Once again, left to their own devices and arguing wasn’t as frequent. Perhaps they had started doing it for S and just got used to it, forgot why they were mad at eachother in the first place. 

“You always loved scary movies and haunted houses. I’m surprised you didn’t want to go poking around with them,” Cherry mentioned and smiled slightly at the memory. The memory of the two of them watching scary movies together every Halloween all the way up until… until they drifted apart. Until Joe went and got a girlfriend and spent Halloween getting drunk at some party. Cherry shook the thought off, it had been a childish tradition. 

“I’m more into scary stuff for girls to cling onto me,” Joe flashed him a grin and Cherry gently splashed water towards him before scooting away. 

“You really are a scumbag,” Cherry muttered. 

“Well you still slept with this scumbag.” 

“Yeah? Well it was a mistake, you did an awful job prepping me anyway.” Cherry was bitter. He remembered watching his friendly childhood friend turn into a guy who didn’t care for anyone’s feelings. Okay maybe that was unfair. He hadn’t cared about Cherry’s feelings. Why would he? As far as Cherry had known back then, Joe was straight. Straight as can be, Cherry was probably just someone to mess around with and figure out his sexuality or some shit. Cherry had been in similar situations before and it was fine. 

“I didn’t hurt you did I?” Joe’s voice cut through Cherry’s thoughts. He hadn’t expected the question, nor did he want to talk about it. 

“I would have told you to stop had I needed you to-” 

“That wasn’t what I asked Kaoru.” 

“Yeah well it won’t happen again so don’t worry about it. Glad you got to discover yourself or some shit,” Cherry hissed and began to get out. He wanted to bathe longer but he also didn’t want to talk to Joe about any of what had happened. It wasn’t going to happen again so they should both just stop talking about it and go back to normal. Whatever that was. 

***

“Let’s have a beef Joe,” Cherry had requested one day. It got a rise out of the crowd, but Cherry also needed to wipe that smug look off of Joe’s face. The face that made it look like nothing had happened between them and Joe could just go back to fucking around with girls. Cherry shouldn’t care what Joe did, but he had pent up anger lately and this whole tournament thing that had been rumored about on the forums was irritating. Everyone was left in the dark and the competitors were supposed to go with whatever Adam decided? Fucking wonderful. 

“Yeah sure Blossom,” Joe said with a wink. Keeping up appearances despite things no longer being the same between the two.

Things were never going to be the same between the two. Although it was still unclear about what “the same” was. Was it how they acted when they were friends? Attached at the hip with Cherry crushing on Joe. Or was it when they had grown apart and became rivals at S? Unable to utter much more than insults? Neither felt right anymore. Neither would happen again. 

Everything was different.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oops sprinkled some feelings into it :')
> 
> okay so this chapter definetly is about the beach episode, but it doesn't follow the plot exactly and lines for characters are definetly different. This is done out of laziness and for the purpose of the plot of the fic!
> 
> Also I realize that some of the tags might not be exact to what they should be, but I will make sure to do that in the future and by the end of chapter three everything should apply! 
> 
> Comments and Kudos are appreciated!


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It had only happened by chance this time. It wasn’t on purpose because they would have never done something so stupid sober. 
> 
> They had seen each other by chance at a bar and had locked eyes for a bit before Joe headed after Cherry when he went outside. The world blurred and melded together as the two joined outside again in what was surely a mistake. A mistake that felt so right as they pressed to each other in a searing kiss. Had they even exchanged a word to one another? Almost certainly not. Neither of them were all that tipsy either but you could bet that they would blame this all on alcohol later. 
> 
> They were soon in a cab and Cherry was pushing at Joe’s clothes nearly desperately. Their lips had remained practically sealed together to the point where it became uncertain if they could even pull away if they wanted to. They melted together in a way they shouldn't. They should be like water and oil not like… like whatever this was.
> 
> Regardless they melted together until Joe pulled away and began to kiss and nip at Cherry’s neck.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay back to my plot lol. I probably won't stray back into the shows plot again. I have already mentioned the tournament in my fic, and maybe I will mention it or if any of the races end up being super interesting then I will definitly try to enorperate it. Not sure how many chapters this is going to be either which is fun- but I am having more fun writing this then anything else right now. 
> 
> Also I have been updating very often and I am trying to find out a schedule. Thinking two days a week, but if anything I definetly want to update on Saturdays or Sundays, close to when the newest episode comes out. 
> 
> EDIT: I watched the episode and I might- and by might I mean I think that my plot is definetly going to be influenced by the show. Not as heavily as the beach chapter since I wasn't super happy with how that chapter turned out but a lot of things happened that I think I want to try and encorperate.

The lights changed from red to green and the two skaters took off. Joe took a quick lead, but that was normal. Their races were always close. Usually it didn’t matter who was in the lead until they got to the abandoned factory, that was where the race was up for grabs. 

This time things would be different though. 

When they encountered their first turn Cherry turned a lot sharper and managed to cut Joe off before continuing down the hill. His board was closer to a longboard and was much easier to turn in, but it was heavier and small pumps slowed it down much more than Joes. Joe already knew that Cherry managed to avoid this problem with the electronics in his board. Telling him where the ground was smoothest and how to turn in such a way that they didn’t have to waste any time. Cherry had the fastest timed course on this hill by a wide margin. That was when he was on his own though, not when he had someone to go against. Not when Joe was able to catch up on the steep straights and cut him off before that damn board of his could let out an annoying noise or notification of some sort. 

“See ya Cherry!” Joe glanced back and winked before continuing on. He had the advantage down the straights. His board wasn’t naturally faster but Joe could push himself faster and his board was easier to control. Once he got into it everything became easier and he only seemed to grow more of an instinct for what he should do as the race went on. Meanwhile Cherry relied on being told what to do by his board. If he didn’t have that damn machine then Joe would probably win every single time. Like when they were younger- this was no time to get distracted. 

He needed to focus. Especially on the factory- sirens. 

Sirens were heard again bringing both skaters to an immediate stop. 

“The cops are coming again, I thought we were through with that?” Joe grumbled as people began to clear out. The sirens were approaching at an alarming rate and the two skaters didn’t really have anywhere to go. 

“You two get in!” The two turned to see Shadow pull up with his car and Reki opened the back door while Langa sat in the front seat. The two younger men… more like boys, weren’t eager for another run in with the cops. They made their decision quickly and Cherry and Joe were soon getting into the back seat with Reki with Cherry having to sit in the middle in their hurry. They took off in a hurry and sped past a cop car. 

Cherry sighed softly and pulled down his mask. It was already cramped enough in here with all of them plus his and Joe’s boards since they hadn’t had time to toss them in the back. 

“I guess S is going to be shut down for awhile eh?” Shadow asked and sighed softly. It wasn’t like they had another skating place to go to. 

“So no more beef’s?” Langa asked and the kid was nearly pouting at the idea of not being able to race anyone until this whole thing blew over.

“I guess not, to bad you two didn’t get to finish yours. We had bets going,” Reiki mentioned with a grin. 

“Oh really and who did you bet for?” Joe asked. Everyone fell into a comfortable conversation with Cherry in the middle of it all even if he just wanted to go home. He felt overwhelmed. His heart had already been beating so fast and then he had been startled by the sirens. Now he had to sit by Joe… they hadn’t talked since they came back from Miyakojima. He listened to the others talk though. About how Miya had some sort of school thing going on, and about skating, and just- to much noise. 

“Can we pull over somewhere?” Cherry eventually asked somewhat abruptly. He needed some air. He could skate home if he must, he just needed to get out of the car. The need grew stronger when the talking came to a stop. 

“Yeah sure,” Shadow shrugged and drove for a little longer before pulling over at a skatepark. This hadn’t been what Cherry meant but whatever. 

As soon as Reki got out, Cherry had immediately gotten out, abandoning his board in the car as he walked away and tried to calm himself down as he sucked in breaths. 

“Shouldn’t you go check on him Joe?” Langa asked as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Joe opened his mouth to say that he should. Yes any decent friend would, but they weren’t friends. They didn’t bicker in a friendly way anymore. Instead all of their words seemed to be laced with venom. At least that was what it had felt like at the hot springs. 

“I’m sure I would do more harm than good Langa,” Joe explained with a friendly chuckle. Just keep up appearances. Keep up appearances. Keep up- 

Langa got out of the car to go check on Cherry. He was just a kid and didn’t know what to do, but it was better than Shadow and… probably better than Joe. 

“Are you okay?” Cherry glanced over to see the blue haired boy, Langa, ask. Of course he wasn’t. How could he be? He was damn near hyperventilating so how could he be okay? 

“I’m fine Langa, just got a little freaked out I guess,” he said and managed a small smile so that Langa wouldn’t press anymore. Cherry wouldn’t be caught dead spilling all his problems onto a teenager. 

“Alright, take your time though. It isn’t like we are in a hurry.” 

Cherry nodded in response. He was glad that Langa seemed to get it. Well maybe not “it” exactly, but just that he needed a moment to breathe. He stayed where he was. Now leaning against a wall as he carefully caught his breath. He noticed the others going to the skate park and briefly met eyes with Joe before he just looked back down. He really needed to figure himself out. But what was there to figure out? He just needed to stop being weird about what had happened between them. Besides, it had been good sex. 

“Sorry for freaking out like that, but I think I’m going to head home, thanks for the drive though,” Cherry said as he came back over and Langa handed him his board since they had taken it out of the car. 

“Yeah no problem,” Shadow said and laughed when Reki fell after trying some trick. They were having a good time and Cherry definitely didn’t need to ruin that by being weird. 

***

It had only happened by chance this time. It wasn’t on purpose because they would have never done something so stupid sober. 

They had seen each other by chance at a bar and had locked eyes for a bit before Joe headed after Cherry when he went outside. The world blurred and melded together as the two joined outside again in what was surely a mistake. A mistake that felt so right as they pressed to each other in a searing kiss. Had they even exchanged a word to one another? Almost certainly not. Neither of them were all that tipsy either but you could bet that they would blame this all on alcohol later. 

They were soon in a cab and Cherry was pushing at Joe’s clothes nearly desperately. Their lips had remained practically sealed together to the point where it became uncertain if they could even pull away if they wanted to. They melted together in a way they shouldn't. They should be like water and oil not like… like whatever this was.

Regardless they melted together until Joe pulled away and began to kiss and nip at Cherry’s neck. 

“D-” Cherry was about to tell him not to leave any marks but then Joe bit down and the complaint died in his throat and was replaced with a soft moan. “Never mind,” he muttered and panted lightly. 

“What?” Joe asked softly having just caught on that Cherry was going to speak. Their eyes met, a drunken haze and lust clouding over their vision. 

“Nothing,” Cherry muttered out quickly. They didn’t need to talk, they didn’t even need to look at eachother. 

“Kaoru are you-” 

“Don’t use that name,” Cherry hissed out. 

“So you want me to call you Cherry Blossom?” Joe asked and rolled his eyes. 

“Well having sex with me isn’t a requirement either Joe,” Cherry whispered as the cab came to a stop outside Joe’s place. When had Joe even given an address. “So what’s it going to be Joe?” 

“Alright _Cherry_ , lets go inside,” Joe said and gave him an overly charming smile. He immediately regretted it when he received a glare from the pink haired man. 

“Alright,” Cherry whispered in a low voice that had Joe worried to say the least, but he chuckled softly anyway and paid the fee for the cab before they got out. They didn’t waste any time before they went inside and Cherry pushed Joe against the wall and pressed a kiss to his lips. He pushed the jacket off of Joe and was aggressive with his movements in a way that he hadn’t been the first time. 

“Cherry-” 

“Do you want to be fucked Joe? Might as well give you the full experience hm?” Cherry suggested as he gripped Joe’s shirt. He was panting heavily and his cheeks were flushed. “Well do you?” He asked. He had over stepped, fuck. Joe was going to turn around and go home and think Cherry was some weirdo-

“Yeah, sure,” Joe whispered and placed a hand on his waist. They headed up to Joe’s room, which felt far too intimate in Cherry’s opinion but he didn’t complain. He had already let Joe into his own room after all. Instead he pushed Joe down onto the bed and careful fingers worked at undressing him. 

“You are taking too long Cherry,” Joe whispered with a smirk. 

“Shut up you gorilla,” Cherry hissed and pushed Joe’s shirt up before working on his pants. He seemed to get an idea as he lowered himself to his knees. He didn’t dare look at Joe, instead focusing on pushing his jeans and boxers down until his cock was free. Cherry took a breath before he wrapped a hand around Joe’s cock and began to carefully stroke it. He refused to look up at Joe. They had already talked too much given what this was. It was supposed to be a one time thing not a- let's argue and fight and then not be able to be alone together unless we are tipsy due to alcohol- kind of thing. He hadn’t gotten a good look last time, but now it looked how it felt. Thick and large and definitely proportional to the rest of him. He wrapped his lips around Joe’s cock and heard a quick intake of breath from above him and could only imagine the faces Joe made. Yes he could imagine, but he refused to look. 

He imagined Joe’s mouth slightly opened and his tongue slack inside. His eyes were rolled back- no they were closed- closed as his head tilted back and he let out that wonderful little sigh that egged Cherry on and had him carefully bobbing his head as he rested his hands against Joe’s smooth thighs. He pressed down until his nose was buried in the curls at the base of his cock and he stayed there for awhile. Joe’s length throbbed in his mouth and Cherry knew how tempting it probably was to buck his hips up, yet Joe kept them still. He kept them still as one hand gripped at pink hair to make up for it. 

Cherry started moving again, just a few slow bobs before carefully pulling off, a string of saliva connecting them. 

“Lube?” Cherry eventually asked breathlessly. He let out these small little pants and kept his eyes down on Joe’s cock. That was easier than looking up at him. Eventually a hand came into his field of vision with a new bottle of lube that hadn’t even been opened yet. Cherry figured Joe either had a lot of sex or that after the last time he had boughten himself lube as a “just in case” sort of thing. Honestly it could very well be either, but Cherry decided to think that it was probably the second scenario. He peeled off the plastic covering and opened it before he began to slick up his fingers and carefully pushed Joe to lay down. Something like this should almost certainly involve people who could actually communicate. Not, one sexually active man who was still figuring his sexuality out, and another man who was hardly sexually active. Instead they suffered in their silence and relied on bodily reactions they couldn’t hide. 

Oh how much easier they could make this by just communicating like adults instead of being idiots. 

Cherry took his time as he gently pressed a finger into Joe and noticed the way his thighs twitched. He wasn’t sure if that was good or bad but the small groan the other man released gave him his answer. Cherry began to gently pump his finger into the other as he carefully stood up since sitting on the floor with Joe’s legs over the sides was such an awkward position to be in. He now had a- a frankly amazing view of Joe. Despite just having a finger in the other man Joe’s muscles twitch everytime Cherry plunged his finger in and he had an arm over his face but he looked so relaxed. 

“Fuck-” Joe breathed out between light pants and soft groans that slipped past his lips. He couldn’t help it. The sensation was completely different from what he was used to. Cherry was surprisingly gentle given how rushed Joe had been the first time. He was surprised honestly. 

Cherry nudged his finger around to carefully work him open. Showing Joe how he _should_ have treated Cherry. How he should have been gentle and kind with him instead of rushing around. It was unfair of him to think that considering he had never said anything and had expected Joe to read his mind, but he couldn’t help it. He had only grown bitter about it after their conversation at the hot springs. He slowly added a second finger and grinned at the way Joe gasped and moved to grip the dark gray sheets beneath them. He carefully began to stretch Joe open and curled his fingers which caused Joe to let out a moan that reminded Cherry that he really needed to get undressed. Apparently Joe remembered to since he reached a hand out to pull Cherry closer with no concern for the hand currently working at stretching him open. 

“Careful,” Cherry muttered but Joe just began to push at the traditional clothes he was wearing in an attempt to get them off but his hands were shaking and he was unable to focus. 

“Please- Cherry-” Joe whispered and moaned softly. Cherry considered it before smirking slightly. If Joe was going to speak then Cherry wanted him to beg. 

“You can ask nicer than that Joe,” Cherry whispered and leaned down to nip at his neck. 

“Fuck! Cherry- fu- don’t make- ah! Please- please- please! Fucking hell-” Joe rambled a bit. Unable to decide if he was going to beg or be stubborn but apparently decided on softly pleading. 

“Well isn’t that cute? Begging beneath me, you should be this nice all the time,” Cherry teased. He slipped his fingers out and began to undress himself. 

“Fuck you,” Joe grumbled and panted heavily. He shifted to look at Cherry undress before looking away. No need to stare- but on the other hand- he hadn’t gotten a good look at Cherry last time. They had been in such a rush. 

“I think I will be fucking you Joe,” Cherry whispered. He shifted and pushed his clothes onto the floor before immediately regretting it. He glanced over and Joe’s floor looked relatively clean so he decided not to move them. He put some lube in his hand before carefully stroking his cock. “Roll over… please? On your hands and knees or something?” Cherry asked. He couldn’t handle looking at the other. It escaped his memory if they had been facing each other the first time but, regardless, it didn’t need to happen again. He noticed Joe glance at him for a mere moment, a million thoughts passing between them. Hit once again with the reality of what they were doing before he nodded slightly and rolled over and pushed himself onto his knees. Was it even fair for Cherry to request this? To practically remove Joe’s vision from the equation because of his own comfort? 

Cherry put a hand on his hip and didn’t miss the way that Joe leaned into his touch slightly. Shit. Cherry soon came closer and began to carefully press his cock into the other, taking it slow and trying his best to be gentle. 

“Oh-” Joe breathed and exhaled slowly. He seemed more surprised than anything else but in reality he was holding back noises and trying his best to relax. Joe sucked in a breath when Cherry began to push in again, fuck. “Cherry-” Joe whispered. He gripped the sheets and pressed back into Cherry. Joe could definitely get used to this. It was different, but Kaoru- Cherry had taken care of him in a way that had Joe practically singing. Cherry drew out moan after beautiful moan as he pressed into the larger man and rubbed his hips with his finger tips. Eventually he wasn’t pushing in anymore and instead slowly pulled out before care beginning to push back in. Joe could see stars. 

The room filled with the smell of sweat and sex and the sounds of soft swears and moans that were much louder. As Joe got used to the feeling the less gentle Cherry would be with him. Joe definitely didn’t mind the gentleness, but there was also something he quite liked about how Cherry began to pound into him with no concern for how Joe felt about it. Well he acted like he didn’t care. 

When Joe was growing close and had considered lowering his hand to gain some form of release he was momentarily shocked that Cherry beat him to it. Wrapping a hand around his cock and biting into his shoulder as he countinued fucking into him. The bite wasn’t gentle either and Joe had been momentarily concerned about Kaoru breaking skin. Fuck. Everything was becoming far too much.

“Fuck- fuck- fuck- holy shit- Kao- Cherry, I can’t- I need. Shit- Ah!” A mess of words flooded out of Joe’s mouth before he came and his vision went white for a moment. He was twitching and hardly noticed Cherry pull out before he went slack on the bed. He didn’t react when he felt the dip in his bed leave and heard footsteps until after a lot of walking around the noise stopped but the dip never returned. Kaoru had left.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Haha can y'all tell I don't write smut often? Yikes that was... something. Hopefully I can get better at it lol. 
> 
> Comments and Kudos are appreciated!


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “What happened to you two?” Langa asked and sounded mildly curious. 
> 
> “What do you mean?” Cherry asked before Joe could butt in and say something dumb. 
> 
> “Well you two were friends at one point weren't you? Are you friends now? Did something happen to make you not friends? I think I’m pushing,” Langa said and whispered towards the end. Trailing off a bit. Perhaps he was concerned about his relationship with Reki after all. 
> 
> “It-” Cherry glanced at Joe before pushing himself along again. “It’s complicated Langa.” 
> 
> “So are you two friends?” Langa asked and looked back at both of them just to see them awkwardly look at eachother. 
> 
> “Yes.” Finally both of them said something. They were both relieved to have said the same thing and get over the fear of one of them saying no.

It was a week or so before S was able to be opened up again. Around a week before Joe and Cherry saw each other again. Talk of a tournament still filled the air. Other than that, beef’s resumed as normal. Despite it all there was too much going on for things to feel normal again. No one knew if the cops would show up again but they were hopeful that it wouldn’t happen

After the latest beef, every single time, if they both showed up then they both ended up in bed together. Muscular hands combing through long pink hair as the room filled with gasps and pants. Or on other days it was thin pale hands tightly gripping green locks and forcing an arched back with swears and grunts. Neither of them were more gentle then the other, Cherry just tried to make up for his deceiving looks by being unnecessarily rough. 

“There is no one here to impress Kaoru, you don’t have to try and yank my hair out,” Joe grumbled and rubbed the back of his head after one particularly rough night. They were both still recovering and made a point of not touching each other after. 

“Piss off, and do not call me that,” Cherry hissed. He did not need this feeling any more real then it was. Their little hookups that only occurred after S. Never after Kaoru stopped by at the restaurant or even prior to S. It needed to happen after. They had never even discussed limits or what the hell any of this was. A quick fuck and then whoever was the guest in the others home was gone. This worked for them and neither of them seemed to want to talk about it. 

It was only a matter of time before one of them fucked up and decided that feelings should be discussed. Until then… they had all the time in the world until one of them fucked up. It was just a matter of who would fuck up first.

At least they were sober now. They had made the unspoken agreement that they couldn’t do whatever this was while drunk even if that made things easier. Perhaps neither of them wanted to take advantage of the other? Who knew. It seemed like they were both taking advantage of each other though. At least it felt like that. 

“So do you actually only have traditional clothing now? What happened to the piercings and trying to dress like a badass?” Joe asked. He always tried to make conversation. He had pushed himself out of bed and was currently getting dressed, making a mental note to bring separate clothes for next time. Yeah… next time. Either way he had ended up poking around and opened Cherry’s closet to see that it really did seem to just be traditional clothing. 

“The lip piercing closed but I still have all the earrings- hey stop snooping through my shit!” Cherry hissed and pushed himself up so he was sitting. “I need to maintain a certain image for my work Joe,” he explained and rolled his eyes. 

“So do you have normal clothes elsewhere?” Joe turned to ask and was met with a slipper being thrown at his chest. 

“My clothes are normal, you ape!” Cherry hissed. He wished Joe could be as considerate as him and just leave right after like how Cherry did. It was very uncommon for Cherry to stay at Joe’s place for any longer than five minutes when they were together. He just got dressed and left. Why couldn’t Joe do the same? 

“Okay well do you have non-traditional clothes elsewhere?” Joe rephrased. 

“Yes, but I highly doubt any of it fits me since I haven’t worn any of it in awhile,” Cherry grumbled. Giving up on having Joe leave apparently. 

“You could pull off two different personas at S and people wouldn’t know the difference,” Joe mentioned with a laugh and finished getting dressed. 

“Cool,” Cherry mumbled sarcastically. He didn’t really care and couldn’t put forth the effort. Maybe if he ever needed to change his image but for now he liked what he had going despite them both getting out classed by Langa as of lately. Cherry wasn’t bitter about it though. Lanaga was a good kid with guts and a lot of talent. Not to mention that a ton of it had stemmed from his time snowboarding so he had put in the work. 

“I’ll see you at S then?” The conversation had died and Joe had finally decided that he should probably get going. It was late anyway. 

“Yeah I’ll see you there. I won’t be coming around until Wednesday though,” Cherry mentioned even if it didn’t really matter. They used to show up all the time without the other there, but lately that didn’t seem to be the case. They showed up together, or at least around similar times, and they hung out with their group before leaving and ending up in one another's arms. That sounded far more romantic than what it actually was. 

“Yeah? Apparently Adam is supposed to show up,” Joe mentioned. 

“Really? Well anyone who thinks he is interested in anyone aside from Langa is an idiot,” Cherry muttered rather bitterly. It wasn’t like he wanted that guy's attention. No. Adam was weird these days. Well weirder. 

“You think so? Well we did try challenging him to a beef so I guess that makes us idiots hm? Either way… let's try not to get left behind?” Joe suggested with a grin. 

“Speak for yourself you ape. I am not the skater that I was,” Cherry smirked. They shared a few choice words before Joe left and Cherry laughed softly before laying back down in bed and he began to scroll through his phone. 

***

“Joe catch up to him,” Cherry said when Langa went flying past. He was going far too fast. If he messed up a turn or fell off his board he could end up seriously injuring himself or someone else around them. 

“Sure pinky,” Joe hummed to try and keep up their playful banter but he hurried after Langa and was soon skating beside him. 

“Langa? Langa? Langa!” Joe finally got his attention and Langa briefly turned to look at him. They were both going far to fast now and Joe knew there was a crowd down after this next bump. 

“What’s up Joe?” Langa asked as casually as ever. As if they weren’t going far faster then anyone should be going on a casual night with no beef’s scheduled. This was speed that was reserved for beef’s. Not speed that people exhibited going past people who were hanging out in the middle of the track. 

“Are you okay?” Joe asked and that seemed to be when Langa noticed how fast they were going. 

“Yeah I’m fine-” They both pulled to a stop when they heard a noise that was coming closer. 

“Holy shit,” Joe muttered when he looked up and saw a helicopter in the air. Wonderful. He glanced over to see that Cherry had pulled up beside them. Joe couldn’t get a read on him though. Perhaps it was due to the mask that concealed his face. Given what they had talked about last time they were together he wanted to assume that Cherry didn’t care but he knew better then that. 

A tournament. The announcement had been a tournament. 

“We haven’t had one in eight years,” Joe hummed mainly to himself. Or maybe it was for Langa to know but the kid looked a little spaced out. He glanced over to Cherry again but couldn’t pick up what he said and decided to forget about it. 

Adam didn’t stay for long after that. He didn’t try to start anything with anyone. He just showed off a bit before leaving. Typical. Hogged the track until it was getting late and they needed to leave. 

“Are you sticking around Snow?” Joe asked since it was getting late and this kid definitely had school tomorrow. He reminded himself of Miya calling him dad and held back a groan at his own behavior. 

“Yes he is, no challenging Adam to anything, especially since after we leave no one will be here, come on Langa,” Cherry added and had removed the choice. That actually reminded Joe of something. 

“I could head home on my own, besides aren’t Miya and Shadow still around?” Langa asked. 

“No they headed out a while ago Langa. You are spacing out a lot tonight Langa,” Joe chuckled softly and with minimal more discussion about it the three began to head out. 

“Where is Reki? That kid showed up nightly to S. He has ever since he got invited,” Joe mentioned. He was a little ashamed to say that he had only recently noticed that the red head wasn’t here but so much had happened and usually when they were on the track the six of them didn’t actually spend a lot of time together. It would be far less interesting for the fans if they all got along, Joe risked a glance at Cherry, wouldn’t it? He decided not to think about it too much since they had this unspoken friendship. Even prior to whatever it was they had gotten themselves into now they had talked before and had spent time together outside of S. Now they didn’t. This didn’t need to be a relationship and Joe didn’t need to go through the tedious long “coming out” thing. He had at one point complained that Kaoru had been a little “in your face” with the whole gay thing. Or at least he had assumed Kaoru was gay. Joe honestly didn’t know if Kaoru had ever had a girlfriend, or a boyfriend for that matter. Partner might be a better word since girlfriend and boyfriend sounded a little juvenile. 

“He said he had some stuff to do. An errand of some sort,” Langa shrugged. 

“Even at night?” Joe asked. 

“That's what I said,” Langa muttered. 

“Joe don’t be pushy, it isn’t our business,” Cherry mentioned. Langa had this unreadable expression that neither of the older skaters could decipher. He didn’t look much different then usual though so neither pushed. 

“What happened to you two?” Langa asked and sounded mildly curious. 

“What do you mean?” Cherry asked before Joe could butt in and say something dumb. 

“Well you two were friends at one point weren't you? Are you friends now? Did something happen to make you not friends? I think I’m pushing,” Langa said and whispered towards the end. Trailing off a bit. Perhaps he was concerned about his relationship with Reki after all. 

“It-” Cherry glanced at Joe before pushing himself along again. “It’s complicated Langa.” 

“So are you two friends?” Langa asked and looked back at both of them just to see them awkwardly look at eachother. 

“Yes.” Finally both of them said something. They were both relieved to have said the same thing and get over the fear of one of them saying no. 

“Okay,” Langa muttered even if he, for whatever reason, doubted what they were saying but it would be stupid to lie about being friends so he decided that it would probably be best not to question it. Eventually they got a little further into town and the three pulled to a stop. 

“Well hopefully you and Reki figure things out. I wanna kick both your asses in the tournament,” Joe said with a grin and was elbowed by Cherry. 

“Have a good night Langa,” Cherry said and when Langa waited for them to leave the two ended up taking off in separate directions that they had normally taken before… before their whole secret relationship thing- it wasn’t a relationship. 

Joe got home and considered texting Cherry before deciding against it. He didn’t need to meet up everytime after S. At this point it felt a little weird not to though. Whatever. He could easily find someone else to hook up with- a girl. 

***

Cherry felt the breeze going through the ends of his hair that he couldn’t seem to get to stay in the helmet as he rode his bike along the road. He had originally just been out running errands but what could he say? He felt nostalgic. He parked at the old Drive-In. He used to meet up here with Joe and- and Adam all the time. Back when things were different. Back when they picked on Adam for his hairstyle. Back when Joe was a rather scrawny dude yet towered over them in height (it was before he was capable of flirting with anyone). Back when Cherry- ugh Cherry hated thinking about it. The amount of piercings and the way he insistently covered his eye with his hair. He recalled what Joe said about how Cherry should dress “normally”. What an idiot. He moved to lean against the metal gate and sighed softly as he looked up at the sky. It was a mixture of purples and yellows as the sun began to rise. He hadn’t gotten much sleep over the night but whatever. Adam had been quite the prodigy. He had skated like an idiot and Cherry- Cherry had just wanted him to be careful. Whatever. 

“I have to move on from playing with you guys now.” 

Adam’s words echoed in Cherry’s brain. Sure they had been having fun more then being competitive with one another, but Adam didn't need to act like they weren’t worth his- 

The familiar sounds of a motorbike pulled up and Cherry titled his head forward to see Joe pull up. 

“I thought I would find you here, you gonna enter the tournament?” Joe hummed and grinned as he killed the engine and leaned forward on his bike. He had marks on his neck. Marks that Cherry didn’t leave since Cherry remembered every mark he ever put on that man and exactly where it had been put. 

“That is a foolish question,” Cherry muttered and kept himself from insulting Joe further. It certainly wasn’t his business who Joe spent his time with. “What about you?”

“Well yeah, gotta sock it to him. You know? Show him that I am a hell of a lot better then what I was. I thought that trying to drag his attention away from Langa was stupid though?” He asked and grinned a little as he looked up at the sky. Perhaps they were both feeling nostalgic. 

“Yeah? Well I still think it is, but letting him be around those kids is dangerous too. Their gonna fall apart just like-” Cherry cut himself off. It didn’t need further explanation. They both got it without Cherry needing to remind Joe what they had both lost. 

“So I take it that you care?” 

“I _care_ about people not getting hurt. No one deserves to end up in the hospital and there is a reason we haven’t had a tournament in eight years,” Cherry muttered. 

“Have you slept?” 

“No… but from the looks of it neither have you.” 

“Yeah? Well would you rather me text you next time?” Joe didn’t get a response. “Come to the restaurant Kaoru. I’ll make you breakfast.” 

Don’t-” 

“This isn’t after S and we aren’t going to be sleeping together. Am I not allowed to say your name now Kaoru?” Joe asked sarcastically and began to start his bike again. Cherry didn’t have a response but he began to head to his bike and fix his helmet on. “Flashy,” Joe muttered. 

“Shut it you gorilla.” Cherry started his bike and the two headed off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so... my Langa is rough but whatever. I am trying to get better. 
> 
> Again a reminder: this follows canon events but character relationships are different (esoecially between Joe and Cherry). 
> 
> Finally introducing some feeling- but honestly was there ever really no feelings? 
> 
> Comments and Kudos are appreciated.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Can I ask you a question now?” Kojiro asked. 
> 
> “If I say no will you ask it anyway?” 
> 
> “Yes.”
> 
> “Okay what is it?” 
> 
> “When we slept together the second time… after we ran into each other outside of the bar. Did you actually want to sleep with me or were you just trying to get back at me for the first time?”
> 
> “Get back at you?” 
> 
> “You said I had hurt you after the first time, and I didn’t know I had… I am sorry for that,” Kojiro whispered. 
> 
> “Oh.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wasn't going to add another chapter until after the new episode dropped but oh well- also I'm slowly going back and editing things- I'm sure people reading right now won't care but I usually gloss over the editing part so I'm hyped for that lol 
> 
> Let me explain some things- In this chapter these two say some things and none of it really gets resolved. That is all apart of them not knowing how to communicate. It will eventually get resolved. All will be right in the world eventually lol.

They had made a stop at the restaurant only to find out that the morning shift was already there and getting stuff ready. Joe decided it was a best not to get in the way and that is how they ended up back at Joe’s place. 

Kaoru sat at the table as he watched Kojiro cook. This was different… weird. Kaoru had never actually looked around Kojiro’s place since he always was in a hurry to leave. 

“I know you would have preferred the restaurant so I am sorry about this. I lost track of time,” Kojiro explained with a shrug. 

“It’s fine,” Kaoru muttered. “Breakfast better be good though you lousy ape,” he mumbled and yawned. 

“Oh shut it. You love my cooking, or else you wouldn’t stop by so often,” Kojiro hummed. 

“I _love_ that I get it for free,” Kaoru corrected. He hadn’t really been stopping by as of late though. 

“Kaoru?”

“Yeah?

“Nevermind-” 

“Just spit it out you ape. You are going to get wrinkles if you keep your face like that,” Kaoru muttered and rolled his eyes. 

“I was just thinking that I haven’t seen you at the restaurant in awhile. You should stop by and taste dishes for me someday,” Kojiro explained and seemed somewhat embarrassed for whatever reason. Kaoru figured that they saw each other enough outside of the restaurant so he didn’t get why it mattered. 

“Don’t you have plenty of other people to taste your dishes. People more qualified?” Kaoru asked. He briefly thought back to that mark on Joe’s neck. That mark that Joe had made no effort to hide. Asshole.

“Well I was-” Kojiro glanced over to the other before nodding, “Yeah I guess.” 

They settled into a silence and Kaoru didn’t get why Kojiro seemed somewhat irritated or upset or whatever. Kaoru simply wasn’t as qualified. He pulled himself out of his thoughts when Joe set a plate in front of him. 

“A crepe? Isn’t this out of your skill set?” Kaoru asked which earned him a flick on the shoulder. 

“No a crepe is not out of my skill set you ass. Even you should know how easy they are to make,” Kojiro grumbled. He supposed that was probably the point. Kojiro sat at the table with Kaoru and the two ate quietly. Kaoru supposed that some part of him must actually like Kojiro’s cooking or else he was just very hungry because he was done rather quickly. “Did you want more?” Kojiro asked. 

“I’m okay, thanks for breakfast Kojiro,” Kaoru said. “I’ll- I’ll stop in at the restaurant more often,” Kaoru added on quietly. He noticed Kojiro visibly relax a bit. What was going on with them? Kaoru seriously had issues since he had insisted on only sleeping together after S only to feel _something_ when Kojiro goes and sleeps with someone else. They- mostly Kojiro but Kaoru to- insisted on keeping this a secret from everyone. Not a single person was to know and they would probably cut whatever this was off if someone did find out. They were just fucking. That was it. 

Kaoru felt his phone go off and glanced over when Kojiro dug out his own phone. It must be something on twitter. Despite not skating much there were still quite a lot of popular people who tweeted in the community. Sometimes it was jokes and then there were the ones that updated stats and posted pictures. Sure the skaters themselves had the largest followings but some of these guys came pretty close. Turns out that old photos had resurfaced and now fans were freaking out and trying to decide if Joe and Cherry used to be a couple. The photo was when they were younger, Joe had yet to bulk up and Cherry had yet to move on from his piercings phase. They were at S but it was before either of them had made a name for themselves and were instead sitting up on a hill. Cherry had fallen asleep with his head on Joe’s shoulder and Joe’s arm around him. 

“Weird that someone took a picture of you sleeping,” Kojiro muttered and neither of them seemed to be aware of the camera in the photo. Kojiro shrugged and put his phone away since he didn’t seem to care. 

“I think we should be more careful Joe,” Cherry said softly and looked at the photo for awhile. It was a somewhat nice picture of the two but Cherry didnt like that it was circulating. That people were making assumptions. That had been a long time ago when things had been easier. 

“Kaoru no one is going to find out. It is an old picture and the only one who really knew us back then isn’t going to blab about it,” Kojiro explained since he didn’t think Adam cared enough to get involved and talk about how they used to act together when they were younger. It wasn’t like they had dated but they had been close. 

“Well still, we should be careful,” Kaoru insisted. Kojiro sighed softly but nodded. 

“It is a nice picture of us,” Kojiro muttered. His face warmed slightly since yeah. He supposed he was bi at least. He hadn’t really felt any sort of attraction towards any other man though so he hadn’t confirmed anything even if he was pretty sure no such sexuality existed where he was only attracted to his former bestfriend turned rival turned fuck buddy.

“You were just saying it was weird that someone took a picture of us without our permission,” Kaoru muttered with a small huff. 

“Yeah well I didn’t say it was okay, but it isn’t like we can do anything about it,” Kojiro shrugged slightly. 

“We could organize a beef or just act more aggressive towards one another,” Kaoru mentioned since they had been spending a lot of time around the same people and even worse then that was their tendency to gravitate towards one another. 

“Oh so it is an act?” Kojiro teased and smirked. 

“Shut it,” Kaoru rolled his eyes and sighed softly as he tried to think. 

“Don’t think about it to much Kaoru smoke is going to come out of your ears,” Kojiro started and continued speaking before Kaoru could interrupt him, “If we organize a beef they are going to think we are compensating for something Kaoru, besides with the tournament coming up we probably won't be able to get a slot. We could ask and someone would probably give it to us but I don’t want to seem like an ass. Instead you should just engage with your fans more. It is something you have always neglected and I don’t get why, who doesn’t want that kind of attention?” Kojiro asked and chuckled softly. 

“I certainly don’t,” Kaoru muttered but decided not to get into that. “Yeah I’ll spend more time around my fans,” he added even if he would rather just hang out with the others. He hated to admit it but he enjoyed their little group even if it seemed like Reki and Langa were in some sort of fight. He couldn’t imagine those two falling apart though. 

“That's the spirit, just don’t go stealing my fans,” Kojiro hummed and received a smack and recognized that familiar fan that he hadn’t been hit with in awhile. 

“I think I should get going,” Kaoru said softly. He was tired. He still hadn’t slept yet and felt like passing out. 

“Alright, are you awake enough to be driving?” Kojiro asked since it was always quite obvious when Kaoru was tired even if he certainly did a good job hiding it. 

“Probably? I’m not sleeping here Kojiro-” 

“Seriously? I’m looking out for your safety here Kaoru. You can sleep here, in fact I insist on it. Just take a nap and then you can head out? I won’t even bother you. I have to do some cleaning and later I have to head to the restaurant,” Kojiro decided and grinned. 

“Kojiro I’m fine. I can make it back to my place. Reall-” he cut himself off by yawning. 

“Yeah sure,” Kojiro said sarcastically. 

“Fine. But I am sleeping on the couch.” 

“Alright that is fine by me you weirdo. I’ll get you a blanket and a pillow. Do you want other clothes to wear?” Kojiro asked and was shot a sharp glare. “I’ll take that as a yes,” he hummed even if it was clearly a no. He got up and headed off to go find Kaoru some clothes as well as a blanket and pillow. 

Kaoru sighed softly and carefully got up before he went to go sit on Kojiro’s couch. It was clean. In fact Kojiro’s place was a lot cleaner then Kaoru had imagined. His decor was tacky. Especially the wall leading from the living room into the kitchen. It was covered in printed out photos. Kaoru knew Kojiro used to have a thing for taking photos but he didn’t realize Kojiro still did. Some of them were very recent too. There was a picture of them at the beach. Kaoru hadn’t minded that. He wouldn’t mind going to the beach again. He remembered their conversation with Langa and sighed softly. Something was clearly going on between those two so he doubted that a trip like that wasn’t in the near future. He was brought back out of his thoughts- he always seemed to space out- by Kojiro who set a blanket, a pillow and a folded set of clothes down. 

“I’m gonna go clean, are you gonna be alright he-” 

“Kojiro? Do you think the way I looked before was better?” Kaoru asked rather abruptly when he spotted a picture of him with Kojiro and Adam by that drive-in. 

“What?” Kojiro followed his gaze to the picture before he rolled his eyes and sat down beside him. “Kaoru you must be incredibly tired if you are considering giving a rats ass about what I think. I- I think you look great either way. Honestly Kaoru. With looks like yours. It is a wonder I didn’t realize I was into guys until recently. Or at least attracted to men,” Kojiro muttered. Kaoru could see this turning into a conversation that he didn’t think either of them wanted to have. So Kaoru decided against asking about Kojiro’s sexuality. It wasn’t something he should concern himself with anyway. Joe did a good enough job fucking him and probably a better job taking dick and that was all Cherry was concerned about. “Can I ask you a question now?” Kojiro asked. 

“If I say no will you ask it anyway?” 

“Yes.”

“Okay what is it?” 

“When we slept together the second time… after we ran into each other outside of the bar. Did you actually want to sleep with me or were you just trying to get back at me for the first time?”

“Get back at you?” 

“You said I had hurt you after the first time, and I didn’t know I had… I am sorry for that,” Kojiro whispered. 

“Oh.” 

Kaoru wasn’t sure what to say. Feelings were confusing and he didn’t want to talk about it. Despite the outward appearance of aggression towards one another they were generally kind enough when having sex. At the very least since that first time Joe made sure that Kaoru was prepped enough and would even ask even if Kaoru seemed annoyed when he asked. 

“I didn’t tell you to stop because if I did and we both realized what we were doing I didn’t know if you would want to be around me. You seemed a little homophobic or something when we were younger. I mean Adam is gone and he is honestly a bit of a freak now and I wasn’t sure if you would just leave. So it hurt a bit and I mean I have had worse so whatever. Then we got into that argument and I was still angry when I saw you and… I guess I sort of was just trying to get back at you…” Kaoru didn’t want to get into his entire shit show of a dating history. Joe was good to him. He had fixed what he did wrong the first time. They were garbage at communicating but through the years they have gripped onto one another. Not wanting to let go. Kaoru falling in and out of crushes with the other man and watching him hit on girls turned him bitter. He recalled the mark on Kojiro's neck and grit his teeth together. He was still bitter even if he wasn’t hopelessly in love like he had been in highschool. 

“Okay…” Kojiro said softly. A terrible response and Kaoru wanted to call him out on it but instead he watched as Kojiro got up. “Get some sleep,” he added on and Kojiro nodded faintly. 

***

They were back at S a couple days. They weren’t hanging out with their normal group for a few reasons: one, they needed to keep their distance from one another because of that photo; two, Reki hadn’t shown up again so their normal group dynamic was thrown off. 

“The fuck is up with you guys?” Miya came up to Joe who was currently talking with a group of girls. 

“Language kid, and what are you talking about?” Joe asked and grinned but was practically glaring at him. He hadn’t forgotten the shit Miya pulled at the beach. 

“Are you and mom getting a divorce?” Miya asked and had the audacity to look all pouty about it even if Joe knew the kid was suppressing a grin. 

“A divorce?” Joe asked, needing to act like the six of them hadn’t all pretty much taken a vacation together. 

“Cherry,” Miya supplied with a small smile. Joe heard the girls he was talking with murmur, mainly wondering what in the world Miya was talking about or wondering if this kid knew if the rumors were true. 

“Yeah right, like I would ever date that four eyed freak-” 

“Well you two are always together.” Miya shrugged. This little shit. Miya was probably the one to start all those rumors. 

“Well I don’t even know where he is right now,” Joe mentioned and shrugged and was about to turn back to his conversation and just ignore Miya. 

“Oh I saw him making out with some girl-” 

“What?” Joe asked a little too loudly. 

“Gotcha. Good luck Joe!” Miya set his board down and skated off before Joe had much of a chance to be pissed off with the kid. He had gathered the attention of a few people though and they had decided to start asking for details about his relationship with Cherry. Joe didn’t really want to share but he could easily spot Cherry across the crowd. It seemed he had been talking with Langa and a few other girls before this all started. Of course Cherry and Langa’s fans probably overlapped a lot.

“You mangey gorilla! Are you talking about me?” Cherry began to make his way over and people cleared space for him to come over. Clearly he knew something was up. 

“Only telling Miya about how your personality alone keeps anyone from ever wanting to date you, honestly. Who wants to date a know it all who can’t be parted from his precious machines?” 

“Well who would want to date an idiot who sleeps around with random girls?” Cherry shrugged. 

“What happened to you two?” a voice asked- one of their fans. “Yeah what about that picture?” “Yeah!” “You two seemed quite close,” more voices came forward and the two had to figure out what to do. 

“I- I used to be friends with this ape,” Cherry finally said and made sure to keep his tone bitter. 

“Oh I think you two were more than friends,” cheering erupted and Adam seemed to have shown up from out of nowhere. Fuck. They were so fucked. 

“Why don’t you two let everyone know what really happened?” Adam suggested with a smirk. They could feel those red eyes looking at them. ‘Matador of Love’ that's what people call him. 

“We used to be friends and suddenly Cherry decided to replace people with machines, nothing more to it,” Joe shrugged. He knew it was more complicated than that but these people didn’t need to know their history. Joe wasn’t even entirely sure what started all the fighting. 

“Kaoru?” Adam prompted and skated over to him before tilting his chin up. Joe wanted to push that asshole away and drag Kaoru away from him. That asshole had no right to put his hands on Kaoru. 

“Adam piss off-” 

“If you don’t tell them I will, my Blossom,” Adam smirked. 

“Joe- he- I-” Cherry couldn’t figure out how to word it but he would rather say it then have Adam say it or post the screenshots of their texts online. A silence had filled S and it was one of nosey people who wished to hear gossip rather than the normal silence of anticipation that filled S. Cherry spotted Langa who was too caught up in Adam’s presence and then Miya who avoided Adam at all costs. Shadow was skating a beef or something Cherry didn’t know. He didn’t know. He- 

“Blossom speak up,” Adam said. His tone was demanding. Their issues shouldn't be worked out in public. This isn’t why Cherry came to S. This isn’t why anyone should come to S. Cherry shoved Adam’s hand away and glared at Adam as he spoke. 

“I was jealous.” 

“Jealous?” Adam prompted. 

“We were very close and I wanted to ask him out but when I went to go do that I found him making out with some girl. He still whores himself out now. Is that what you wanted to hear Adam? Should I talk about you too?” Cherry asked and didn’t wait for an answer as he pulled his mask over his mouth and nose before setting his board down and taking off. Fucking hell. He didn’t want feelings to come into this. He didn’t want things to be anymore messy. 

Joe grit his teeth and ignored the way Kaoru had just talked about him and referred to Joe as a whore. He ignored the mark that obviously Kaoru had noticed. He had it covered with makeup now but he hadn’t before.

“Adam I challenge you to a beef,” Joe stated firmly. What was he thinking? He shouldn’t go defending Kaoru after everything he had just said. 

“Maybe after the tournament Kojiro, you can defend your boyfriend then?” Adam suggested. 

“I would never date him- I think it is obvious enough to everyone by now that I’m not into men so piss off and stop bringing people’s personal lives here,” Joe snapped. Had Adam not shrugged it off with a grin and began to spew off details about the tournament it would have probably ended in a physical fight. Instead Joe left since he could get the details online. 

Joe wasn’t able to catch up with Cherry and find out what the fuck just happened since Cherry had sped off to quickly. Instead Joe just headed home. He pulled out his phone and sighed softly as he set his board down at the door and hung up his jacket. 

Joe: Hey. Idk what happened there but maybe we should talk? 

Joe didn’t get a response but he could see that Cherry had read it. 

Joe: Kaoru I’m serious. I know you don’t want to talk but we should

Joe: You can’t just say that I whore myself out! You never said anything. You never do say anything and you expect everyone to just know what you mean! You shut me out because I got a girlfriend? You should have talked to me!

Joe: I missed you. 

Joe sucked in a breath and set his phone down before he headed off to go get ready for bed or something- he wasn’t sure at this point but he was pissed off. 

***

Cherry had skated away rather quickly from Adam and Joe. His face was flushed red and he just needed to get away from S. It was very important to him that his personal and S lives were kept separate and now he had basically ruined that- people knew his name. People knew about his stupid childhood crush on Joe. Then he called Joe a whore? What was wrong with him. 

“Carla please guide me the quickest path home,” Cherry said softly but thankfully she heard him anyway and began to give him directions home that went off his normal pathing but it was slightly faster. He headed inside and locked the door before he plugged Carla in. He checked his phone when it started going off. He didn’t want to talk right now. He could text Joe back later- he got more texts. 

Joe: Hey. Idk what happened there but maybe we should talk? 

Joe: Kaoru I’m serious. I know you don’t want to talk but we should

Joe: You can’t just say that I whore myself out! You never said anything. You never do say anything and you expect everyone to just know what you mean! You shut me out because I got a girlfriend? You should have talked to me!

Joe: I missed you. 

Kaoru took a breath and plugged his phone in before he went to go have a bath. He was freaking out and just needed some time alone. He definitely needed some time away from S. 

He undressed himself and took his hair down as he waited for the tub to fill. Once he got in he pulled his knees up to his chest. He could go back to how things were… forget about how they slept together. They weren’t good for eachother like that anyway. Joe probably would never come out and they didn’t communicate very well. They wouldn’t make a good pair but- 

Those hands roam around his skin and touch every inch of him in a way that he hasn’t been touched before. 

Those hands massage his shoulders as he sucked Joe off. 

Those lips lingered against his skin and nipped in the most delightful way. 

Kojiro was so attentive and caring and was able to learn despite Kaoru being an asshole and never saying what he wanted. 

What does he want?

What does Kojiro want?

What do they want?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comment's and Kudo's are aprreciated! 
> 
> Also I have a tumblr!
> 
> Well I have always had a tumblr but I never used it for anything and now I am you can find be @writingbutneverfinished  
> or https://writingbutneverfinished.tumblr.com/
> 
> I'm going to post small early releases of chapters (nothing over like 300 words). I am also going to eventually be accepting prompts from there and stuff. So if you like my content you should follow me on there and watch me learn how to use tumblr. 
> 
> You will also get to decide if I eventually throw in a flashback chapter :3 (and if when I write the tournament if I should use the shows outcomes or my own- depending on the next epidoe and how it rolls out I might just end up using my own but I'm not sure yet-)


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “He didn’t want to come?” Reki asked with a soft groan. They were at the indoor skatepark and Reki had dragged Joe here. Despite his own current issues with Langa he still- for whatever reason- didn’t like seeing the older skaters so miserable. 
> 
> “No, said something about not wanting to be recognized,” Miya muttered and rolled his eyes. Despite that it was a fair request considering a couple people had recognized Joe even if he was just watching and didn’t plan on skating today. 
> 
> “So when are you gonna patch things up with Langa?” Miya asked, turning the conversation back onto Reki. 
> 
> “When he stops being obsessed with Adam… I don’t know Miya. I just- he looked so excited by the thought of skating with Adam again and I can’t even picture his masked face without being terrified.” 
> 
> “Is that all that's going on?” Miya asked. Reiki hesitated before he nodded slightly and went back to skating. 
> 
> “These slimes are idiots,” Miya muttered and flashed Joe a small smile anyway before going back to showing Reki up.

“So you two really aren’t talking anymore?” Miya asked Kaoru. They had ran into each other completely by accident. Kaoru had been going for a short trip on his board, needing to get out of the house since he still refused to go to S, and Miya had been getting out of school and the two just sort of saw each other. Kaoru wasn’t all dressed up and Miya was in the most ridiculous school uniform that Kaoru had ever seen and the kid could talk Kaoru’s ear off. 

“I called him a whore so no we aren’t on speaking terms right now,” Kaoru muttered. “It isn’t really your business Miya.” 

“Yeah yeah. I know. I shouldn’t have mentioned anything. You think Joe is pissed off with me or something? I did kinda get people talking at S,” Miya mentioned. The two were both carrying their boards as they walked together. The sidewalks were far too crowded.

“I don’t think so. People would have started asking about it anyway. I’m sure he realizes that,” Kaoru said softly. “Would you care if he was mad?” Kaoru asked and adjusted his glasses, damn things always slipped down his face. 

“I don’t know. I guess not… Okay yes I would, but only because I can’t stand only hanging around Sha- Hiromi,” Miya explained. It was bad enough that he hung around with so many people that were basically old men. 

“What about Langa and Reki? Have they not sorted their problems out?” Kaoru asked. 

“Nah. Last I heard they got into a huge argument. Like a mini you and Kojiro,” Miya explained and chuckled softly. “Does that make me Adam?” he asked teasingly since he definitely didn’t want to be like Adam. 

“More like a mini Shadow,” Kaoru smirked at the way Miya looked way more offended at that comparison. 

“Yeah right! He is a second rate skater who only beats rookies but can’t even do that considering Langa beat him with a board duct taped to his feet,” Miya defended. 

“Yeah I mean you lost to Langa too,” Kaoru mentioned which earned him a glare. “Don’t compare yourselves to us though. None of you three want to turn out like the rest of us,” Kaoru tacked on and noticed the way Miya nodded his agreement. 

“How long has it been since you two spoke?” Miya asked out of curiosity. They were nearing the bus stop. 

“Since that last time at S. Only a few days. We have gone longer without talking so don’t worry about it. It isn’t your place to worry about it. Just focus on the tournament-” 

“Are you entering?” 

“I- I don’t know,” Kaoru whispered. They exchanged their goodbyes before Kaoru began to leave. He had been out long enough and figured he should head home. Maybe he should text Kojiro… No. He wasn’t ready to talk yet and Kaoru knew that if he texted Kojiro then they would need to talk. He wasn’t ready. 

***

Kojiro supposed Kaoru was probably handling things with as much grace as that bastard always did when he cut Kojiro out. Put them together and there was constant bickering and arguing. Separate them and Kaoru was graceful and having his life on track and ignoring Joe to the fullest extent. Asshole. Kaoru was such an asshole. Not a thing had changed between them. 

Kojiro was not quite as graceful. When Kaoru had first decided to cut Kojiro out Kojiro had been able to hold himself together by going to the gym and finding distractions. Now no matter how much he went it wasn’t a good enough distraction. So where did that leave him? Flirting at a bar and getting drunk on his night off. Wonderful. He hadn’t been at S either. He didn’t want to see Kaoru and he was pretty sure he wouldn’t be able to keep his anger at bay if he saw Adam. Asshole. Adam was also such an asshole. Kojiro wasn’t the type to get drunk like this. Tipsy was fine and happened somewhat frequently, but drunk was different. Drunk was him hitting on girls and making mistakes and letting his emotions get the better of him. Given how he was feeling right now it wasn’t much of a surprise that he couldn’t actually be charismatic enough to find anyone to hook up with. He decided to head home instead. 

Kojiro started walking since the fresh air felt wonderful and getting into a cab would probably cause him to throw up. After a while he heard the sound of skateboard wheels followed by the sound of a board and then a person hitting the ground. Like an idiot he followed the sound. Stumbling about until he spotted a certain red head trying over and over again to land this jump at the skatepark. How far had he walked? Must have been awhile. 

“Joe?” Reki spotted him outside of the chain link fence. 

“Mind if I watch?” Kojiro asked. Reki shook his head since he didn’t mind and Kojiro moved to the other side of the bench and sat down. The two didn’t talk. Reki definitely knew that Joe was intoxicated. It wasn’t at all like the boy felt unsafe around Joe. Reki probably felt more safe around Joe then anyone else… especially as of late. After he fell on his ass four more times he got up and took a water bottle out of his backpack and gave it to Joe. 

“The nearest bar is quite a few blocks away and the liquor store is even further,” Reki mentioned. 

“I needed a walk,” Joe muttered and quietly thanked him before opening the bottle. 

“You and Cherry?” Reki asked. Videos were everywhere online. 

“Yeah… well not anymore,” Joe let out a sad chuckle before he just went back to drinking his water. Reki nodded slightly and didn’t push the conversation further. He had been dealing with his own shit lately. Namely Langa. He remembered the rain hitting his skin yet he still felt warm due to his own anger but he felt cold in his core due to his sadness. Instead of continuing this conversation he just got up and went back to practicing. He could ask a million different questions to Joe. He wondered if out of the three of them if Joe had been the one to lag behind. Clearly Langa was like… Reki couldn’t even will himself to think of that man's name. Reki just wanted to know if he was like any of them. If any of these great skaters had lagged behind and couldn’t seem to catch up. Everyone just seemed a hell of a lot better than him. 

“You never taught me how to do that trick,” Reki mentioned as he pushed himself up from the pavement after falling again. 

“You stopped showing up.” 

“You haven’t been showing up either. It is everywhere online. I guess only Miya, Shadow, Langa, and… yeah I guess only they show up,” Reki mumbled and sighed softly. 

“Yeah? Well I’m sure either Langa or Adam will win. If you put up a poll it would be between those two with Cherry lagging behind and then me at the bottom,” Joe grumbled and laid down on the bench as he drank his water. 

“You at the bottom- Joe you are not falling asleep there get up,” Reki grumbled and rolled his eyes. He came over and began to pull the green haired man up. “Let's call you a cab. I would let you come over if you weren’t such an old man,” Reki grumbled and managed to pull Joe up and off the bench before calling him a cab. 

“I’m not that old,” Joe whispered. Reki waited with him until the cab came before waving him off and heading home himself. 

If Joe didn’t have work he would probably be an idiot and go to the bar tomorrow. It is a good thing he had something to stop him even if he didn’t know what he would do after work. 

Why did Cherry have to be such an asshole?

***

It was a few days of waking up with hangovers and being more miserable then the day before until Joe decided to stop going to bars. He refused to go to S but lucky for him he knew another skater who wasn't currently going to S and wanted help with his tricks. So he began to help Reki after work instead. 

Turns out the two were very similar in that Reki was stubborn, got frustrated easily, and needed a shit ton of practice before he could be consistent with anything. Joe mainly watched but would demonstrate tricks and sometimes fall on his ass which had Reki laughing a bit. 

“You haven’t landed that once kid,” Joe mentioned as he began to get up. 

“Yeah I know sorry,” Reki hummed and grinned. Reki was quite honestly happy he wasn’t alone in this whole practicing thing. He knew tricks weren’t everything but given how he was basically a nobody at S he couldn’t really get a spot to practice racing and he also didn’t think he wanted to run into Langa. Seeing him at school was already hard enough. He watched as Joe picked up the board and tried the trick again. He went off a ramp and went into the air. Doing a full rotation as he kept his board flat before landing again. 

“You also need to learn how to drop in off of higher points but I’m kinda bad at that too… a good example is what Langa did in that first race against Shadow when he dropped off that beam. You should watch videos and learn how to do it without hurting yourself. I ended up in the hospital once because I didn’t bend my legs properly,” Joe explained. There wasn’t really anything here to drop off but starting at lower points was definitely smarter. Yeah sure, someone like Langa could start in an abandoned factory but Joe wouldn’t recommend that. Especially not for Reki. “You need to climb to larger goals instead of trying to skip steps,” Joe explained. 

“That sounds like something Cherry would say,” Reki muttered, 

“I thought we agreed not to talk about him?” Joe asked and sighed softly. 

“Yeah I know, sorry,” Reki said since he knew that was a little more complicated than what Joe had explained to him so far. “Were you two dating?” Reki asked anyway and heard Joe groan as he stopped skating. 

“Go land the trick I just showed you then maybe we can talk about it,” Joe said and sat back down. Reki huffed softly but got up and grabbed his board only to fall on his ass when trying to land the trick since the board hadn’t stayed with his feet. 

“Well then I guess we aren’t talking about it,” Joe shrugged and leaned back on the gate as he drank his water. 

“Oh come on!” Reki groaned and began to stand up but he must have landed funny or maybe all the falls were finally getting to him since it was really difficult to stand up. Joe came over and hoisted him up. 

“You’ll land it. And then I’ll tell you about Cherry. Although I guess all you really need to know is in that video,” Joe muttered. The words echoed in his mind and stung him. 

“Well I’m not an idiot old man! I know shit is more complicated than that… it always is,” Reki trailed off towards the end and sighed softly. Clearly missing his friend. “You think Langa will be okay in the tournament?” Reki asked. 

“I don’t know,” Joe replied honestly. “I was looking forward to seeing you enter honestly. I hope you change your mind about this whole thing but I get it if you don’t. Adam is a weird guy.” 

“Yeah,” Reki muttered. Adam certainly was a weird guy. Weird being an understatement. “What about you? You cut out S to,” Reki mentioned. 

“I already entered,” Joe shrugged and sighed softly. He wasn’t the type to just quit and he was pretty sure Kaoru would be there and Joe really needed to talk to him. He really _wanted_ to talk to him. Maybe his needs and his wants were the same thing right now. 

“The forums have been blowing up, a lot of people are picking sides,” Reki whispered and sighed softly. Well apparently their rival thing had been restored. People were calling Joe homophobic for saying he wasn’t into men- because that obviously made sense said no one ever. People were pissed off with Cherry for calling Joe a whore and then people chose sides. Saying how Joe could date whoever he wants to and that Cherry shouldn’t get in the way of that. Or that Joe shouldn’t have broken Cherry’s heart. It was ridiculous but no one seemed to be barging into their personal lives and that was all that Joe was concerned about for now. 

“I bet they are. I- I guess I just hope he is okay.” 

“He called you a whore.” 

“Well he was just upset. At least I want to believe that was all it was. We don’t communicate very well. Adam gets both of us riled up. Everything- everything is just a mess,” Joe sighed softly. “I think I’m gonna turn in for tonight. I got work tomorrow- well pretty much everyday- I’ll see you though! And Reki? Think about entering the tournament?” Joe suggested. 

“Maybe.” 

Joe took off after that, both of them left since Joe had to be somewhat responsible and make sure Reki wasn’t pushing himself, but the kid would gladly use a break after that fall. He had probably landed on his tail bone. 

***

“Hey you should come watch at the indoor rink. I bet in a couple years some of them will be at S!” Miya seemed more enthusiastic today then most days when they “ran” into each other. Truthfully Cherry just liked to stick to a schedule and that schedule included going for a small break from work to take his board out and it happened to be when Miya got out of school. 

“Seriously? I would rather not get recognized, Miya…” 

“Well I know, but I’m trying to convince Reki and Langa to show up and it isn’t going well.” 

“Could it be that you miss having a bunch of slimes around?” Cherry asked since he knew that was how Miya referred to them. He noticed Miya’s glare and chuckled softly. 

“Whatever, I’ll see you around Cherry,” Miya muttered with a small huff before he began to take off. Cherry sighed softly supposing he had probably upset the kid somehow- although he wasn’t entirely sure how. He began to head back to his shop so he could get back to work. When he got there he grew distracted as he scrolled through the messages he got from Kojiro. They had never texted aside from occasionally asking if the other was going to be at S. That was all prior to their fight? Whatever this was. 

***

“He didn’t want to come?” Reki asked with a soft groan. They were at the indoor skatepark and Reki had dragged Joe here. Despite his own current issues with Langa he still- for whatever reason- didn’t like seeing the older skaters so miserable. 

“No, said something about not wanting to be recognized,” Miya muttered and rolled his eyes. Despite that it was a fair request considering a couple people had recognized Joe even if he was just watching and didn’t plan on skating today. 

“So when are you gonna patch things up with Langa?” Miya asked, turning the conversation back onto Reki. 

“When he stops being obsessed with Adam… I don’t know Miya. I just- he looked so excited by the thought of skating with Adam again and I can’t even picture his masked face without being terrified.” 

“Is that all that's going on?” Miya asked. Reiki hesitated before he nodded slightly and went back to skating. 

“These slimes are idiots,” Miya muttered and flashed Joe a small smile anyway before going back to showing Reki up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow irresponsibile adults (mainly Joe). :/ 
> 
> Also watch me avoid writing Langa and Shadow because I find those two to be difficult for whatever reason lol. 
> 
> Anyway- find my tumblr on @ writingbutneverfinished
> 
> Might make a twitter who knows. 
> 
> Comment's and Kudo's are appreciated!
> 
> Sorry for the severe lack of Joe and Cherry interraction! They will meet up soon enough. Also how would people feel about me slipping in some Reki/Langa eventually?


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “No. I need to race him Joe. is that okay?” Kaoru asked and tilted his head. Despite this his eyes were colder now and he kept his eyes locked with red ones as he spoke firmly. Adam had humiliated him. Adam has been humiliating him for who knows how long and Kaoru couldn’t take it anymore. 
> 
> “No… no it isn’t,” Joe whispered. He couldn’t support that. He just couldn’t support Kaoru sending himself to the hospital. He had thought long and hard about it. Had thought he would support whatever Kaoru decided to do, but he couldn’t support this. He would of course be there at the hospital if it was needed, but he couldn’t lie and tell Kaoru he was okay with all of this when he wasn’t. 
> 
> “Okay,” Kaoru whispered softly and squeezed his eyes shut for a moment. 
> 
> “Which is why I am going to knock you out before you get a chance to race against him,” Kojiro added on and shrugged. He had a small grin when Kaoru snapped his eyes open.
> 
> “You are going to do what?” 
> 
> “Kick your ass in the tournament. That was the plan eight years ago and it is the plan now,” Kojiro said and pushed himself up before he began to clear away their plates.

After a while of skating Reki eventually went to sit by Joe. 

“Have you looked at the list of who has entered so far?” Reki asked. When Joe shook his head Reki added on what Joe already knew, “Cherry entered.” 

“Well then I guess I’ll have to enter,” Joe said and sighed softly. 

“Seriously?” Reki asked. “I- I don’t get why everyone is so excited to skate against Adam. That asshole is crazy Joe. Yet everyone seems so excited to go against him! I don’t understand it…” Reki whispered. Joe figured that Reki did understand where the excitement came from; he just didn’t feel it himself. 

“Well I don’t want to skate against Adam either.”

“Then why enter?” Reki asked somewhat firmly. Reki didn’t think he could ever in his lifetime catch up to even Shadow nevermind Adam. 

“Because… I can’t let Kaoru hurt himself trying to go up against Adam,” Joe explained. 

“So you are going to try and knock him out before he has the chance?” 

“Yeah I guess so…” 

***

Joe entered the tournament and after his name started showing up online Reki had stopped showing up to the skatepark. Joe hadn’t meant to upset the kid but this was important. Sure they had their issues but they had seen what Adam did to people. Joe couldn’t let Cherry be on a long list of people Adam had hurt. Now Joe just needed to know if he could even beat Cherry and keep him from progressing. 

***

Cherry took a breath as he got ready to head out. This was incredibly dumb. He hadn’t skated against Adam in who knows how long and Adam was certainly different. He didn’t even want to be at S but he also couldn’t seem to stay away. He missed it. Not the people, most of them were idiots. He missed the feeling of a close race, the wind against him, surprising the audience with a new trick, seeing that idiot's green hair as he passed him- Shit. He didn’t know if he could do this. He looked at the open gate. He was a little late. Whatever. He headed inside and a lot of people turned to look at him but he did a decent job ignoring them. Some people were happy that he had returned, others- not so much. He instinctively went to his usual place to stand but he spotted Joe. 

Fuck. 

He found a different spot. 

“You two are still being stupid? Usually you two are over your arguments and ready to start a new one within a day or so. What happened?” Miya asked as he came over to Cherry.

“It isn’t any of your business but apparently it is everyones given the video online,” Cherry muttered. He had a basic idea of how the tournament would work. They were conveniently split into groups and the two winners of each group would progress. It was an easy way to cut out anyone who wasn’t as skilled as others. It was also a hell of a lot faster and kept things interesting as opposed to having beef after beef after beef. It would get exhausting and the tournament would take forever. 

“Well people don’t seem to like you much anymore,” Miya muttered. Of course Cherry had dedicated fans who would like him no matter what but most people if not everyone had fallen onto Joe’s side and Cherry didn’t have the charisma to bounce back from this. He also didn’t care. He wasn’t settling things publicly when those things should have been brought up in a private setting. Now the real question was: when _was_ he going to settle things with Joe. 

“I don’t need people to like me. I came here to win.” 

“So you didn’t enter at all because you thought Joe would be here?” 

“No. Your group is up,” Cherry said and ended the conversation there. 

***

The groups finished and Adam made some announcement about needing to work out the format for the tournament which was fine with Cherry since he just wanted to head home. Apparently it wouldn’t be that easy though since when he got outside the gate and to a more private area- 

“Kaoru?” It was Joe. His voice was somehow soft yet firm at the same time. Kaoru tried to just hurry along but Joe grabbed his wrist and that pulled Kaoru to a stop. He turned back to look at Joe and kept his mask up. “Kaoru I need to talk to you.” 

“Talk away then,” he muttered. Apparently not ready for this conversation. 

“Can we go to the restaurant? Please?” Kojiro asked. He didn’t want Kaoru getting pissed off and skating away. Besides if things got awkward then Kojiro could always make Kaoru something to eat. 

“Fine.” 

***

When they got to the restaurant Kojiro unlocked the door and let Kaoru in before he went into the kitchen to make them both something quick to eat since Kaoru had said that he better be getting food out of this. Yes Kojiro had every right to be mad and refuse him. This was easier though. Making Kaoru and himself a mushroom risotto to share was easier.   
“Here, eat up,” Kojiro breathed and set the plate down before sitting across from him with his own plate of food. 

“Thanks.” 

The two sat in silence for a while. Kaoru picked at his food while Kojiro ate. 

“Don’t pick at your food, four eyes, it’s rude,” Kojiro muttered. Both looked ridiculous from anyone looking in since they were still in their skating attire. 

“Well then make better food that I won’t be able to pick at,” Kaoru retorted. There was no bite to his words. He hadn’t been able to beat Adam’s time and some rando did. People hated him and he- he missed being around Kojiro. 

“Well if you aren’t going to eat it then I will,” Kojiro began to reach his fork over but Kaoru hit it away with his own fork and began to properly eat so that Kojiro wouldn’t steal his food. 

Once Kaoru was done his food he finally looked up at Kojiro instead of avoiding his gaze. 

“I- I am sorry for what I said,” Kaoru eventually said. “For calling you a whore and being an asshole. Adam has always been able to get under my skin but that still isn’t an excuse.” 

“I’m fine Kaoru. I get it. He gets under my skin to… we really need to stop letting him,” Kojiro chuckled softly before sighing. “So you liked me when you were little?” Kojiro asked. His tone was teasing of course, but it was still something to think about. Kojiro wondered if- 

“Yeah. Key word “liked”. Don’t get ahead of yourself,” Kaoru grumbled stubbornly but his face warmed slightly. 

“Yeah don’t worry I won’t. Although I can certainly understand why people like all of this I don’t get how you could possibly like how I looked when we were younger. I looked like I should be a track athlete or something.” 

“I liked- nevermind. You are just going to be an ass about it,” Kaoru huffed. 

“You know I wouldn’t but fine… are we going to be okay though Kaoru?” Kojiro asked. His voice was soft towards the end. He was worried, he didn’t want them to not be talking. It had only been a few days, but Kojiro missed him. He missed Kaoru more than he should but they had been friends for so long. 

“What do you mean?” Kaoru asked softly. 

“I don’t- I don’t like not talking to you. I hate that you avoided me. I hate that we didn’t see each other. I know we suck at communicating but we could get better y’know? I worry about you. You looked far too intense today and I don’t want you to get hurt. I don’t even like the thought of you skating against Adam, but if you are going to then I need to be there to support you. I-” 

“I do intend on skating against Adam and kicking his ass, but… I don’t want to avoid each other either. I guess we do need to work on communicating,” Kaoru explained. He was very firm in his position about skating against Adam, but he would feel better if he was on better terms with Kojiro. Joe was avoiding looking at Kaoru now. His face felt warm but he was also feeling this pain in his chest at Kaoru having cut him off only to insist on skating against Adam. 

“Well then I’ll make this clear: I don’t want you skating against Adam.” 

“Why not?” 

Kojiro couldn’t say. They both knew of course, deep down they both knew why Kojiro didn’t want Kaoru skating against Adam. Neither dared breathe a word for fear of the other taking steps back and distancing from one another again. Neither could handle that. The main reason being: what if it didn’t work? What if they fucked up what little they have left and then lose it. 

“Just- please Kaoru?” Kojiro asked softly. He managed to lock eyes with Kaoru for a second and noticed those golden eyes soften in an apologetic stare. 

“No. I need to race him Joe. is that okay?” Kaoru asked and tilted his head. Despite this his eyes were colder now and he kept his eyes locked with red ones as he spoke firmly. Adam had humiliated him. Adam has been humiliating him for who knows how long and Kaoru couldn’t take it anymore. 

“No… no it isn’t,” Joe whispered. He couldn’t support that. He just couldn’t support Kaoru sending himself to the hospital. He had thought long and hard about it. Had thought he would support whatever Kaoru decided to do, but he couldn’t support this. He would of course be there at the hospital if it was needed, but he couldn’t lie and tell Kaoru he was okay with all of this when he wasn’t. 

“Okay,” Kaoru whispered softly and squeezed his eyes shut for a moment. 

“Which is why I am going to knock you out before you get a chance to race against him,” Kojiro added on and shrugged. He had a small grin when Kaoru snapped his eyes open.

“You are going to do what?” 

“Kick your ass in the tournament. That was the plan eight years ago and it is the plan now,” Kojiro said and pushed himself up before he began to clear away their plates. He headed into the kitchen to let Kaoru settle with the news, but Kaoru got up and followed him. 

“Joe you can’t possibly be entering just to beat me. What are you going to do? Withdrawal after?” Kaoru asked and rolled his eyes as he followed Joe back into the kitchen. 

“I don’t know yet, but you don’t sound confident you can beat me, have you been sitting on your ass this entire time?” Joe asked since he knew that aside from the preliminaries Kaoru hadn’t been to S. 

“As if, I’ll kick your ass you ape,” Kaoru shot back just as quickly. Well there it was. They were back to bickering and things felt almost normal again. Almost normal in the way things felt just a little off but it wasn’t really the worst thing in the world.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shorter chapter! Yikes I know it isn't as long as I want it to be. Next chapter tournament stuff starts! 
> 
> Also I remade the bracket to fit with my story a little better and it will not be changing based on the show. So from here on out things are mostly going to be my story as opposed to canon events. The last canon event is going to be the Joe v. Langa race (unless I somehow guessed the outcomes of all the races). Other then that I have a bracket written that wont be changing based on what the show does. I'm excited to write it even if I haven't really written a race before? If it turns out bad I'll implement more skips.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They were looking at eachother again and maybe they both cared about Adam just a little less.
> 
> EDIT: Changes were made to this chapter involving race pair ups. They were minor and I will summerize it in the next chapter notes.

It was the second night. Skaters were still showing up and eagerly awaiting for Adam to come and reveal the matchups for the tournament. Except Joe and Cherry were back to standing next to each other again. It had been sort of by accident. Joe had been standing within a crowd of people and Cherry had forgotten about their whole weeping distance thing due to their talk. This resulted in Cherry making his way over to his normal spot and standing next to Joe. 

“Have you two seen Reki?” 

The two hadn’t seen him in forever, but there was Langa. He looked worried and tired. This wasn’t even mentioning how the light that was normally in his eyes prior to beefs was no longer there; that was a detail only Joe noticed. 

“No, is he supposed to show up, Langa?” Joe asked. 

“I think he might,” Langa whispered. His voice was filled with his uncertainty but the edges of his eyes held a spark of hope. 

“I’ll- we will keep an eye out for him,” Joe confirmed and gave a warm smile that was different from his normal cocky grin. He hadn’t seen Reki since telling the boy he would be participating in the tournament, but he had messaged the boy on twitter and let him know he should show up. He watched Langa take off to go look for his friend. 

“We?” Cherry asked softly. They were careful about how much they talked to one another now. Despite their long talk they still didn’t want to get too friendly too quickly. 

“Yeah.” 

“What was the smile for earlier?” Cherry asked. Of course he had noticed the soft expression Joe had worn. 

“Just… reminiscing I suppose. Is that okay?” 

“Yeah. I didn’t realize an ape knew such big words,” Cherry shrugged. Joe was about to defend himself, not to mention that neither word had been all that big. That was when the lights began to dim and instead the stage lights began to light up. Great. He was here. Joe glanced to Cherry who had his full attention on the stage. The idea of racing Adam had seemingly grabbed his attention more than anything else ever could. Joe resisted the pang of jealousy that hit him. Adam was a creep and they both knew that. Now Joe just had to keep Cherry from being hurt. That was it. There was nothing stopping Cherry from challenging Adam after this but Joe figured that his own pride might be good enough to stop him. Hopefully it would 

“Cherry and Shadow!” Adam had announced the first pairing and Joe had been spaced out the entire time. He was thankful it wasn’t him since he couldn’t risk spacing out right now. 

“Well then. Off I go,” Cherry muttered. 

“Kick his ass or else I will laugh at you forever if you get beat someone with such "vulger skating",” Joe hummed. 

“Yeah? Well you don’t get to say that after getting beat by a rookie in the prelims,” Cherry mentioned and kept his board close. He took a step to head out, but not before glancing back to Joe and the two locked eyes for not even a second. Then Cherry left. 

What could even be said about that beef? Cherry was on another level, especially when compared to Shadow. After getting used to his tricks it was easy to avoid them. 

“Well then Blossom is the winner!” Adam announced and the two held each other's gaze once Cherry and Shadow made it back up. Adam looked as calm and collected as ever, but Cherry was glaring. “Joe reign your stray cat in please?” Adam hummed and smirked. It seemed he would take any chance to humiliate these two. Despite the obvious bait when Joe had been about to go up Shadow ended up stepping forward instead. 

“Come on kitten,” Shadow smirked. He was fuming from his recent loss though. What had he expected though? Either way he didn’t pull off the charming appearances nearly as well as Joe did. That didn’t stop people from taking pictures, especially when Cherry followed after him. 

“If you call me that again I’ll kick your ass,” Cherry hissed. 

“That win was lucky! Don't get ahead of yourself,” Shadow hummed even if Cherry was confident he could kick his ass several more times.

Joe didn’t make his way over since he didn’t need to be a part of this whole reigning in thing. He just figured that Shadow better not be trying to steal his part. Despite that he wanted to chew Cherry out and tell him not to fall for Adam’s bait, he could do that later. His face heated up at the thought of what they normally did later. It had been so long. He decided to just assume it most likely wasn’t happening until this whole tournament was done. He then corrected his thoughts and decided that it most likely wasn’t happening until they had talked things over more. So it would be awhile. 

“Snow!” Joe heard Adam announce the next name. He pitied whoever had to go up against him. The kid was fast and good, but -Joe glanced over to him; the kid had looked up when his name was called but the excitement wasn’t there- he wouldn’t be at his best today. Joe glanced back up to the stage and sighed softly at the way Adam was drawing this process out. Joe wanted to heckle and tell him to just pick a card already. The chance of it being Adam was slim, but it wasn’t like he was at his best today. Still, he would probably win against whoever he was up against- 

“Joe.” Adam announced flatly. Cheers erupted and people looked over to the two in excitement. They had been standing quite close together. 

“Let's have a good beef okay Lanaga?” Joe suggested. He was met with a nod and a half heard smile before the two began to head to the starting location. Shit. 

“Joe, can I ask you a question?” Langa asked when they were at the starting point and Joe was waving to a few people. He had spotted Cherry in the distance but the two had broken off the eye contact as soon as it happened. 

“What is it kid?” 

“Why… why don’t I feel the same excitement that I do when skating?” Langa asked. 

“Well when was the last time you felt this excitement?” Joe asked even if he was almost positive he knew. He chuckled softly when Langa described a simple trip to school where he had nailed a really good trick and he had been met with the familiar smile of the red headed boy. “Well if the person I care for isn’t there to watch me skate then I tend to lose that feeling of excitement as well,” Joe mentioned and let out a small laugh at the way Langa’s face turned as red as a tomato. 

“Well who is that person for you?” Langa asked softly. He was running his thumb along the edge of his board. Joe sighed softly and let the silence lingur for a moment. It was obvious. Instead Joe cleared his throat and continued:

“Skaters are stupid. It isn’t like any of us are getting paid or get any sort of benefit from this that would affect our lives outside of this, but the thrill and the excitement is what drags you back every single time. Skaters are stupid though, really dumb. We get hurt even once? Well if it is bad enough then we never skate again. Yet we keep going. We go through every fall, bail, and sometimes hospital trip, but the excitement is there ten fold if you have someone to experience it with you. Do you know what I mean?” Joe asked. 

“I think so,” Langa whispered although he looked a little uncertain.

“Good, even if we are all idiots try and be a little less stupid then the rest of us okay?” Joe suggested. He watched as Langa nodded before they both began to get ready to go as the lights started going off. When the green ones went they took off.

Joe normally had a relaxed attitude towards skating but not this time. This time he was determined to win only so he could hopefully kick Cherry’s ass later. He hadn’t even considered the possibility of Cherry being matched with Adam the first round, but that didn’t matter. He would just have to hope that Cherry wasn’t matched with him and that Joe would have time to knock him out. 

Joe won. It had ended up a lot closer than he would have liked, with Langa having a renewed sense of excitement and energy near the end of the race. Joe wasn’t sure what had happened. When he glanced over to thank the other for the beef he could see him hunched over his board and he was shaking a bit. Joe made his way over and saw that the end of the board was practically snapped, only a few stray pieces of wood kept it together, but it wasn’t usable anymore. 

“Shit, well it was bound to happen. You okay kid?” 

“Can I fix it?” Langa asked. His voice was laced with desperation. Joe recalled that Reki had supposedly made that board. He sighed softly since he understood the feeling of growing attached to a board. 

“You could probably ask Reki? You should. You should talk to him. You two work better together, you _skate_ better together,” Joe whispered and carefully helped Langa up from his hunched over position. “Go find him,” Joe whispered. He wanted Langa to take off before Adam started throwing a fit about Langa not being in the tournament anymore. Thankfully Langa nodded and took off just as the projector came back on and Joe recognized the fury that laid dormant behind his masked expression. Good. Joe smirked as he watched him choose cards again. He didn’t seem as thrilled anymore and Joe wasn’t sure what to think of that. 

“Snake and Harry.” Adam announced anyway. It was a short announcement and Joe didn’t stick around since he already knew who would win in that one despite hardly knowing any of the competitors. Instead he began to head back up. 

Cherry let out a small sigh of relief when Joe had won. He had been asked several times if he was going to congratulate Joe to which Cherry had responded by saying something about how he didn’t congratulate his competitors and how that feeble minded gorilla would have lost had Langa been more on his game then he had been today. People stopped talking to him when Adam made his way over. Cherry could see those red eyes behind his mask. A mask that Cherry was confident he wore to hide from the consequences of his actions. He had always his from everyone, well nearly everyone. 

“Cherry, Joe knocked out my Eve. Racing against him was the entire point of this for me, the rest of you are such a bore,” he mentioned with a happy little hum but Cherry could tell he was pissed. 

“Stop being such a creep Adam, you would never understand why he didn’t win-”

“So you think he should have?” Adam was smirking. He looked far too happy with the situation. It made Cherry sick. 

“Under normal circumstances maybe, but Joe got far too relaxed at the end because he thought he had won. He isn’t like you. How many races are happening tonight?” Cherry asked to try and change the topic. 

“This is the last one-” 

“Well then I’ll be taking my leave,” Cherry said. He couldn’t let Adam take control of the situation anymore. There were a number of reasons he wanted to skate against Adam, but he needed to keep a level head about it. 

“Excuse me?” Adam seemed quite shocked. He had always dragged Cherry and Joe along so when Joe showed up and the two began chatting as if Adam hadn’t altered their entire reputation at S it pissed him off. 

“You need to practice more, your sloppy and had Langa been actually trying you would have lost, honestly. I don’t know what makes you think that you shouldn’t have turns memorized or that angels don’t matter or that-” 

“Come on four eyes, I did good though right?” Joe stared down at Cherry with a smirk that confused onlookers and pissed off Cherry. It was Joe’s way of telling Cherry that he wasn’t going to take it easy against him if they ended up racing together. 

“Well you won so I suppose it was passible,” Cherry muttered. Joe grinned and began to cheer in a way that was far too embarrassing. When Cherry began to leave Joe made matters worse by just following him along and acting all bubbly. This was the first time they had openly left together. 

“Where are you two going?” Shadow asked since the current race was boring. 

“Really? Isn’t it obvious?” Miya asked and rolled their eyes. 

“Just the skate park,” Joe explained and shot Miya a glare. He heard the younger mutter something about how it sounded like a date before two just continued leaving. 

“So we are going to the skate park?” Cherry asked. 

“Well we don’t have to, but I am. I want to see if Reki is there,” Joe explained. 

“I guess I can come,” Cherry muttered and shrugged. “I’ll race you there,” Cherry mentioned and took off with Joe trailing behind. 

***

They always looked at each other at the wrong moments. For as long as they had known each other that seemed to be the case. 

“Kaoru what has you so upset?” Adam asked as he watched Kaoru fall off of his board for the tenth time. He usually nailed rail slides fairly consistently so this was unusual. 

“Nothing! Stop assuming shit is wrong Adam,” Kaoru hissed and adjusted his hair. There was too much of it and it always got in the way but he loved it and he hated it at the same time. And why couldn’t things just make sense and stop being so difficult. 

“Is it Kojiro?” Adam asked and rolled his eyes when he heard him fall again. 

“Well he was supposed to meet us here, not ditch us for a date with some bimbo,” Kaoru snapped and began to push himself back up. 

“Jealous?” 

“No! Don’t be stupid,” Kaoru hissed. His face warmed in a way that was either frustration or embarrassment at being caught. “It is just- I miss having him around.” 

“You miss him?” 

“Sorta… I don’t know…” 

“You love him?” Adam tilted his head as they sat on a bench together. 

“God no!” 

“Good,” Adam started but realized how that sounded, “I-I mean there is no way that he is gay. I just don’t want you getting your hopes up,” Adam muttered as a light flush covered his cheeks. 

“Yeah you are probably right.” 

It was no different for Joe. The first time he had really noticed Cherry differently was when they learned of each other's hobby. 

“You ride a skateboard? You should come skate with me someday!” Kojiro said with bright eyes filled with excitement. 

“Seriously? You hardly know me.” 

“That doesn’t matter to me, I just want someone to skate with!” Kojiro hummed happily. 

They started skating together. They met Adam and then Kojiro noticed that their eyes didn’t meet as often. That Kaoru had started to look at the blue haired male far more often. The way Adam had looked at Kaoru was… concerning. He looked at Kaoru like he was a possession as opposed to someone to care about. Kojiro stopped looking at them all together and started focusing his sights on other girls. Was it rude and to fill space? Yes. He had wanted Kaoru to skate with him though. Why did they have to get caught up with Adam? 

***

“I win,” Cherry hummed with a smirk. 

“Well I just had a beef so excuse me for being tired!” Kojiro huffed before chuckling softly. 

“Well he isn’t here,” Cherry added after looking around a bit before looking back at Joe who met his gaze. 

“No I suppose he isn’t.”

They were looking at eachother again and maybe they both cared about Adam just a little less.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> remade the entire tournament bracket and don't expect to many similarities going forward with the show. The only real similariteies is the Joe/Langa race which obviously had a different ending. I am going to write some Renga eventually lol. It was part of the reason why I want Langa booted out so early lol.


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Spend the night with me?” 
> 
> “Are you stupid?” 
> 
> “No stupider than you.” 
> 
> “Fine.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OKAY THESE NOTES ARE IMPORTANT PLEASE READ THEM LMAO
> 
> basically I made an oops in the last chapter with the whole tournament thing- this is what i get for only writing late at night. Basically I wrote Cherry skating against Harry but he was supposed to skate against Shadow. I fixed it now and all is right in the world and for those who have already read it- you probably don't need to go back and re read it just know that these are the pairings that have happened tournament wise: 
> 
> Cherry v. Shadow
> 
> Joe v. Langa
> 
> Snake v. Harry 
> 
> This fic is honestly almost over. I only expect to make maybe three or four more chapters and then I'm moving on to another fic because I already have plans for it and I am excited. Might do a one shot or two in between and I would love suggestions in the comments or on my tumblr which is [writingbutneverfinished](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/writingbutneverfinished)

“Reki! Has anyone seen Reki!” Langa called as he searched around. It wasn’t about his board. It had never been about his board. He needed to see Reki and he needed-

“Snow! How could you get knocked out?” Langa looked to see Adam and felt Adam grab his wrist in a gentle yet somehow firm way. For a split second he felt the same fear that he was sure Reki had been talking about that night in the rain. What had he been doing? 

“I need to go find Reki,” Langa said and tried to pull his hand away but found that the older man had quite the grip on it. Adam pulled him close and took his hand to hold, pressing his thumb down against the top of his hand. 

“Just answer me this: why did you let yourself get knocked out by Joe?” Adam asked rather firmly. There was anger behind that mask. Anger that Langa wanted to escape from. Where was Reki? 

“I don’t know, I didn’t mean to!” Despite trying to speak up his voice was still soft and shaking. Other people were looking. 

“Had you been trying throughout the entire thing a mediocre skater like Joe wouldn’t have stood a chance. Not against my Eve.” 

“Joe is a good skater, and I am not your Eve, whatever that is. Joe said that-” 

“I don’t care about what Joe said, I want to know why you lost!” Adam snapped and yanked on Langa’s arm. 

“W-well Joe said that I couldn’t be at my best if the person I care about isn’t watching!” Langa managed to speak up a bit. He felt overwhelmed. He sucked in his breath and kept his broken board as far away from Adam as he could. 

“Langa!” Langa heard his name being called and turned, expecting to see Reki but instead it was Miya who had shouted his name. He came over and was pulling Shadow along who was half heartedly resisting his pull just for appearances. Why did they all have to care so much about appearances? 

“Adam let go of him,” Shadow said. 

“Oh you think you are going to get involved? Joe and Cherry are gone so you think you can step up? That red haired brat was probably a better skater then you!” Adam let go of Langa to glare at Shadow with a grin. 

“Yes! Leave these kids alone. This goes past skateboarding you asshole, you two go wait in the car,” Shadow said. They both went to argue but Shadow shot them a glare and Miya was dragging Langa off to the car. 

People at S had a tendency to forget. Forget that people like Kojiro and Kaoru didn’t want everyone poking into their lives or their past, forget that Reki had feelings and that him plus Langa and Miya were all still kids. Most people came because of the rush of skateboarding or being able to be someone they weren’t. It was a huge reason Shadow came, but sometimes people needed to be hit with a dose of reality. 

Langa and Miya carefully climbed into the car that was parked outside the gate of S and sat quietly. Langa was still freaked out and gripped his board tightly as he looked out the window and tried to think. 

“You okay?” Miya eventually broke the silence. 

“I don’t know. He was there, Reki was, and I don’t know where he went. I miss skating with him though,” Langa muttered. 

“Well… Hiromi said it was best if I didn’t get involved, but I hope you two sort it out. I uh- I kinda like being around you both,” Miya explained and refused to look at Langa. 

“I just want to talk with him.” 

“Then talk with him?” Miya suggested softly. 

The conversation was cut off when Shadow got into the front of the car and silently started it. 

“So how did it go?” Miya asked. Terrible question based on the way Shadow let out a sigh and rubbed his face. 

“Just threats, nothing physical and he said it would be a waste of his time to send me to the hospital in a beef, so no harm done,” Hiromi muttered and began to start driving. “So where are we going?” Hiromi asked. 

“Well we need to find Reki and get either him or Kaoru to fix Langa’s board,” Miya explained. 

“Kaoru? What makes you think he could fix the board?” Hiromi asked. 

“Have you seen his board? I highly doubt he bought Carla,” Miya explained. 

“I want Reki to fix it though,” Langa said softly. 

“Fair point,” Miya muttered. 

They weren’t sure where Reki was though and the guy still wouldn’t answer Langa’s texts so when Miya muttered something about being hungry and they happened to pass by Sia La Luce and the lights were on Shadow parked the car. 

“What about Reki?’ Langa asked softly. 

“We can make a stop here and then I’ll swing by his place?” Hiromi suggested softly. “If you really want me to leave now we can, I just figured you could use some time to cool down,” he explained. Langa honestly could use some talk to cool down. He was worked up because of a number of reasons and he didn't want Adam’s name to slip into the first few sentences he said to Reki so he nodded slightly and began to carefully get out. He clutched his board close despite the other two leaving their behind and the three headed into the restaurant when they found that the door was unlocked. 

“We are close-” Joe poked his head from the kitchen as he spoke and stopped talking when he noticed the three. Cherry was sitting in his regular spot with a glass of wine that had already been filled a couple times. “Take a seat wherever,” he corrected himself. Joe was a hospital man and before talking had even started he had gotten everyone at least a drink and asked the three what they wanted before retreating back into the kitchen. 

“So do you make a habit of coming here after S Cherry?” Shadow asked with a small chuckle. He could use a drink himself after dealing with Adam. 

“Yep,” Cherry hummed and popped the ‘p’. “Joe doesn’t charge me,” he added and shrugged. Aside from that Joe also had an outlet where Carla could charge. 

“Master you have a notification from twitter, would you like me to read the tweet you were mentioned in from ADAM?” Carla asked as if on cue. 

“No not right now, please mute him Carla,” Cherry muttered and finished his wine before setting the glass down. 

“Yes master.” 

Cherry finally turned to look at the other three. “So what brings you three here? We can’t all be making a habit of mooching off of Joe or else he will start charging me,” Cherry muttered and crossed a leg over the other. 

“My board is broken, and we are looking for Reki, and Adam- and-” Langa tried to explain but there was too much going on and he felt like everyone was looking at him even if only Cherry was. 

Cherry’s gaze softened and he sighed softly as he nodded. 

“We had a run in with Adam on the way out and I don’t know where Reki is but the lights were on. Sorry for intruding,” Hiromi explained. 

Cherry got up and went behind the counter and grabbed a bag before offering a container of makeup wipes to Shadow. “May I see your board Langa?” Cherry asked. 

Langa seemed hesitant but he carefully offered over the board he had been clutching onto so tight. His fingers had seized up a bit so he stretched them in an effort to relax them a bit. 

“You would need to remake the entire deck but everything else can just be taken off and put on a new board. As long as the measurements are the same it would be hard to tell the difference and it will feel similar the more you use it,” Cherry explained and gently ran his fingers along the frayed wood edge where it had snapped. “You should keep the parts, at least I think so, but I have grown quite attached to my board,” he explained and didn’t notice Joe had even left the kitchen until he felt the others bare shoulder on his back as he set the plates of food down for the other three. 

“It would be easier to just replace it,” Joe mentioned and shrugged. 

“Don’t listen to this idiot. Keep every piece you can, I can fix it if you really want but I think you should get Reki to,” Cherry explained and nudged Joe away from him. “You couldn’t even just replace these parts anyway, a normal shop won’t have them,” Cherry added and gave Joe a pointed look. 

“Well not everyone gets attached to their board. In other words: not everyone is as weird as you,” Joe mentioned and had this smile that Cherry wished Joe would drop already. The least he could do was be subtle. Joe finished setting the plates down and mentioned something about how Cherry was cut off from the wine before heading back into the kitchen. 

“We actually went looking for him a bit earlier, well we stopped by the skate park, but he wasn’t there,” Cherry mentioned. 

“So he has been skating?” Langa asked softly. He recalled how worried Reki had been about if Langa would drop skating if he got hurt but now it was Langa who was worried if Reki would quit. 

“Joe said he is, but I have no clue how that is going. Joe is probably a terrible teacher,” Cherry muttered and handed Langa his board back before pulling up a chair to sit nearer to them but not to close. 

“S has been weird lately,” Miya muttered out of nowhere. He thought this whole tournament thing would have brought everything back to some sort of normal, but it hadn’t. It had made things worse. “What is your history with Adam?” MIya tacked on since a lot of things that had been happening seemed to revolve around that. 

“It- It is something I don’t want to talk about,” Cherry said rather firmly. “He just used to be a friend and now he isn’t. That is all there is to it. Happens all the time with a prodigy or people who are competitive,” Cherry explained and waved his hand absentmindedly. He noticed the shift in Langa’s expression and realized he was probably comparing the prodigy thing to himself even if it was debatable if Langa could be considered a prodigy given how much snowboarding he had done. Either way the boy didn’t say anything and instead picked at his food. Joe eventually came back from whatever he had been doing, it was probably cleaning or putting things away, and instead pulled up a chair to sit down with them. 

“Are you two okay now?” Miya asked. Kids and their questions. 

“Were fine,” Joe said

“It’s complicated,” Cherry spoke at the same time and the both turned to look at the other. 

Great. 

“It is a little bit of both I suppose, nothing that either of us wanted people to know about,” Joe mentioned softly. 

“That video was crazy,” Hiromi mentioned as he got the last of his makeup off after going through what was probably a dozen wipes. Joe and Cherry both looked away in separate directions at the thought of anyone being able to watch that. Being able to watch Cherry call Joe a whore and watch Joe be rather insistent about how he didn’t like Cherry. That was a simplified version of it but still. Neither of them wanted anyone watching it. 

“Please don’t watch it?” Cherry eventually requested softly. 

“Well I had been there and I thought-” 

“Please don’t watch it.” Joe spoke a little more firmly. Hiromi nodded and muttered a soft apology since yeah, he shouldn’t have watched it. 

“Thanks,” Cherry whispered and an uncomfortable silence settled among them for awhile before eventually Joe decided to break that. 

“Well how about I go make Reki something to eat so if you run into him you can give it to him?” Joe suggested, “Good food is the way to anyone’s heart.” Everyone caught the way Joe had momentarily glanced at Cherry, well everyone had caught it except for Cherry. 

“Thanks, but I don’t think I’ll be seeing him until school,” Langa explained softly and felt his face warm slightly. 

“Well then you can eat it,” Joe hummed with a chuckle and took any dirty plates back into the kitchen to clean since he couldn’t leave the people who opened with a mess. 

“I don’t really-” Langa was cut off when Joe was already gone. He sighed softly and stared back down at his board. His heart had been beating so loudly when he had seen Reki. Why had it stopped? He wanted to feel that again. He wanted to skate with Reki again, and not just because he was knocked out of the tournament. He needed to skate with Reki again. He had zoned out and hardly noticed Miya and Shadow talking to one another, but he didn’t really care. He didn’t have the energy to focus on a conversation right now. 

He must have sat there zoned out for awhile because soon Joe was giving him a takeout container and Hiromi was mentioning that they should head out. Had Langa not been so spaced out, maybe he would have been more aware of the fact that it was Joe and Cherry saying bye to them and Cherry giving some half assed excuse about wanting another drink. Instead Langa had hardly paid attention to it and climbed into Hiromi’s car. 

“Okay I’ll swing by Reki’s place and if he isn’t there we can check the skate parks but after that I have to drop you two off. Got it?” Hiromi explained. Langa nodded his understanding and just hoped they would find him. 

***

“I thought you wanted to have a talk tonight?” Cherry asked and looked up to Joe as the car pulled away. 

“Yeah? Well now you have three glasses of wine in you and I think we should both be sober,” Joe explained and chuckled softly. 

“Well you could have asked me not to drink,” Cherry muttered, “I’m not even tipsy though.” 

“Yeah I suppose it would have been smart to stop you, but whatever. We can talk tomorrow or something?” Joe suggested. He was very adamant about having this conversation and Cherry would be lying if he said he wasn’t nervous about it. They hadn’t had a talk about all of this yet and Cherry wasn’t sure if he was ready to solidify whatever this was yet. Either way he knew they couldn’t go on without establishing some sort of boundaries or figuring out whatever this was. He also had a feeling they were going to be talking about a lot of past stuff which didn’t sound fun either. Maybe that's why he was avoiding this by drinking. They headed back into the restaurant so that Joe could clean up. Realistically Cherry should have probably just headed home. Instead he just quietly waited for Joe to finish what he was doing so that he could say goodnight or whatever. Just a quick goodnight and he could head home afterwards. 

That had been the plan. 

Instead when he went to Carla down after saying goodnight Joe carefully grabbed his wrist. 

“What is it?” Cherry asked when Joe didn’t start immediately explaining himself. He turned to look at Joe when he didn’t get an answer and the taller green haired male was just looking at him with this soft smile on his face. “Kojiro?” Cherry whispered and tilted his head slightly. 

“Can I kiss you Kaoru?” Kojiro requested in a soft voice Kaoru wasn’t used to hearing. The way Kojiro said his name made Kaoru take in a breath and his face warmed. Kaoru nodded slightly and made sure his board wouldn’t roll away before taking his foot off of Carla and leaning over to press a gentle kiss to Kojiro’s lips. 

The fire of passion between them was reignited in an instant. Had it ever really gone out though? They kissed a kiss that would keep them both wanting for more and if it were up to Kaoru they would fulfill their desires sooner rather than later. It wasn’t up to him though. Soon Kojiro pulled away and gently brushed a lock of hair out of Kaoru’s face. 

“Tomorrow we talk?” Kojiro requested softly and kept his gaze down at those golden eyes. He had never seen Kaoru have such a soft expression. At least not in a while. 

“You don’t want to continue this tonight?” Kaoru asked with a zoned out expression before realizing what he had said and pulling away slightly. The tips of his ears reddened and he kept his hands pressed into the others chest as Kojiro chuckled softly. 

“Horny bastard, but no not tonight. May I present an alternative?” Kojiro suggested with a grin. Kaoru huffed and that soft expression was gone as he pulled away to glare at the other. 

“What would that be?” Kaoru muttered and crossed his arms. 

“Spend the night with me?” 

“Are you stupid?” 

“No stupider than you.” 

“Fine.” 

The two got to Kojiro’s place and it was passibly clean. Nothing impressive but it was fine. 

“I’ll get you some clothes?” 

“Yeah that would be nice,” Kaoru said softly when he realized he was still in his skating clothes. 

“You can go have a shower if you want.” 

“Is that your way of telling me I stink?” Kaoru asked. 

“Yes,” Kojiro hummed and flashed him a grin. Kaoru rolled his eyes but nudged him before heading off to go have a shower. Kaoru stepped into the bathroom and closed the door behind him. He looked at himself in the mirror and sighed softly. He normally didn’t get a good look at himself when he was dressed like this and it was kinda weird. He remembered the night he had decided what he was going to wear. He had wanted to get it perfect since he didn’t like the idea of changing up his look too often. Little things were fine but he needed to solidify his look. He had ended up asking Kojiro for help. 

_”You could show up with all your piercings again,” Kojiro suggested over the phone._

_”Some of the holes are closed Kojiro, besides I’m trying to move away from all that. I need to keep up appearances for work and if I let myself wear my piercings again I’ll want to get my nose pierced and-”_

_”Kaoru you are supposed to have fun with this, just be yourself. Have fun with it. If you want to wear traditional clothing that is fine. If you want to dress in a way you have never dressed before then do that. The point is to have fun with it.”_

Kaoru sighed softly as he began to undress and ran a finger along areas where holes used to be or where holes still were that had yet to close. The ear holes probably wouldn’t ever close and if they did Kaoru could see himself having a midlife crisis and re piercing them. Perhaps being so invested in S was his midlife crisis, but that wouldn’t make sense considering he had been going since he was a teen. He let his traditional clothing slide off and carefully removed the mask he wore and let his hair down. He looked back into the mirror and seemed to remember that he needed to remove his contacts. He hadn’t even brought his glasses. Wonderful. He sighed softly and took them out before finally beginning to have a shower. 

The soaps on the edge of the tub filled the shower with the familiar smell of him. Only then did Kaoru become aware of what he had agreed to. Spending the night. With Kojiro. In the same bed. Shit. Was it too late to back out? To apologize and ask if they could talk in the morning and then run away from this conversation. This conversation that was happening years later then it should have. Fuck. 

“Kaoru? I’m gonna come in and set clothes on the counter is that okay?” Kojiro’s voice broke through Kaoru’s thoughts and he sucked in a breath. 

“Y-yeah… that's fine,” Kaoru said despite wanting to take off. He heard the door open and just focused on washing himself. Ignoring the fact that Kojiro was right there. Just past the curtain. He needed to get a grip. He was in and out. Kaoru was getting far too caught up in his thoughts though. How could Kojiro not? How could he always seem so calm? They saw the world through different lenses and that was- it was terrifying.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was supposed to be two chapters but I couldn't find a decent part to split it so hopefully it isn't super clunky- anyway 
> 
> comments/kudos/bookmarks are appreciated!


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